


Hit Me With Your Best Shot

by Leah_Red



Category: Bandom, My Chemical Romance, Panic At The Disco
Genre: Demon!Frank, M/M, implied minor character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-31
Updated: 2014-09-08
Packaged: 2018-01-17 15:45:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 36,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1393291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leah_Red/pseuds/Leah_Red
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>All thanks to Teri (aka cock_zero) for the idea, as well as the other anonymous commenters on her tumblr that added on to the idea that I eventually used to make this fic.</p>
    </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> All thanks to Teri (aka cock_zero) for the idea, as well as the other anonymous commenters on her tumblr that added on to the idea that I eventually used to make this fic.

Gerard looked down at the notebook in his lap, hidden under the desk. He'd copied some of the spells from the book his grandmother Elena had given him. Yeah he was supposed to be reading The Great Gatsby for his last class of the day but who wanted to read that when he could be researching how to teleport someone's underwear off their body from under their clothes? Okay, maybe he was a little bitter about being pushed into the fountain in the middle of the school courtyard but wouldn't it be fantastic to see the entire lacrosse team's boxers end up in floating in that same fountain? Especially after they were the ones who put him there.

Mumbling to himself, he started to bounce his foot up and down. The errant magic words under his breath and his natural talent had gotten him in trouble before but he was so focused on what he was doing that he didn't notice the lights flicker with each bounce. At least not until someone pelted him on the back of the head with an eraser. Cursing under his breath he whipped his head around to see who threw it. None of the usual suspects were sitting behind him, but there was that new kid. Frank Something. He didn't catch his last name during role call at the beginning of class. Sitting there all cocky with his aviator sunglasses.

Gerard turned around and grumbled under his breath. He'd show that new kid not to mess with him. His tolerance for being messed with was set pretty low after the fountain incident. By the end of the class period he'd worked up a nice little spell to make Frank tongue tied and not able to speak for a few hours. All he had to do was focus on him, and mumble words, trying not to make a face as the spellwords made his mouth tingle. But when he cast it... nothing happened? He watched Frank turn in a worksheet to the teacher. He only smacked his gum a few times, spit it in to the trash and put in a new piece. Had he messed it up? Hit the wrong person? Shaking his head, Gerard hurried to pack his books in his bag as the bell signaled the end class.

"Yo, Way! Wait up!" He heard an unfamiliar voice call his name when he was half way down the hallway and looked back to see Frank running up to him with a familiar notebook. "You left this in class."

Before Frank even had a chance to really give it back, Gerard snatched it out of his hands and flipped through it. Nothing seemed to be missing but he could have sworn he put it in his backpack while dodging questions about what chapter he'd gotten to.

"Dude calm your tits. What is this, your diary?"

"Maybe. What's it to you?" He stuffed it safely away in his backpack, for sure this time.

Frank shook his head, probably rolling his eyes. It was impossible to see through the stupid sunglasses to tell though.

"Whatever. See you tomorrow." His stupid smirk was finally gone as he turned to walk out another door, but Gerard could see his shoulders shaking as he laughed. Jerk.


	2. Chapter Two

Gerard continued to research little inconvenient spells to try to mess with Frank but nothing seemed to be working. That whole week nothing seemed to affect the other student, and he didn't act like he knew what was going on either. Always looking at him with that stupid smile and trying to catch up to him for small talk. No way, he was not going to let that happen.

Finally, a week after the eraser throwing incident, Gerard put the final touches on something that would put a normal person in the hospital with double pneumonia. He had to keep this one a secret from his grandmother. There was no way she'd let him get away with something like this, even if she knew how nothing else had worked on Frank yet. All he had to do was find a way to directly touch him and it would work.

Class ran a little long that day as Gerard flipped through the cliffnotes on The Great Gatsby. He's spent more time researching his magic than actually studying and the teacher was starting to notice. By the time he got his books in his backpack Frank had already left.

"Shit..." He made sure the spell was ready to go and hurried out to try and catch him. He didn't want his near all-nighter to end up just dissipating because he couldn't use it on someone. Thankfully, Frank was just down the hallway, heading towards one of the doors to go outside. Gerard still hadn't bothered to come up with an excuse to touch his skin (shaking hands was out of the question since they didn't seem to get along too well and it wasn't like he could just go up and punch him, as much as he wanted to), but that didn't seem to be a problem. Overthinking was one of his weaknesses. When he was just a few feet away he somehow stopped paying attention to walking and tripped over his own feet. He fell right in to Frank and knocked them both down.

"Hey watch where you're-" Whatever nasty remark Frank was about to make was cut off when he realized who ran in to him.

"Sorry..." He reflexively apologized as he started to get to his feet. Much to his surprise, Frank offered him a hand and helped him up. He tried to suppress a shiver as he felt the magic working.

"Maybe if you bothered to watch where you were going that wouldn't happen." He shook his head, smirking again as he picked his sunglasses off the floor.

"Yeah whatever," Gerard huffed. He was about to walk away in embarrassed defeat when he heard Frank sniff a little and clear his throat. He had to quickly turn and start walking away before he gave away his sudden triumphant grin. It started to work! Finally! He celebrated on the way home and it was exuberant enough for Mikey to notice his unusual attitude.

"What's got you all worked up? Finally find a boyfriend?" Mikey quipped from the table as he worked on homework.

"Shut up nerd. And no. I think I finally got a spell to work on Frank."

"Who are you calling a nerd, dork? And what, you mean the kid who did nothing to you but you can't actually do anything to?" He raised an eyebrow at his older brother.

"He knows what he did." Gerard grumbled and headed up to his room. Once in there he hurried to flip through the spell book Elena had given him. Double checking that he had done everything right, he seemed satisfied. Now all he had to do was wait and see how it affected Frank.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M NEW AT THIS PLEASE HELP HOW DO I FORMAT ALL THIS ;ALSKDJF


	3. Frank is an asshole

Frank knew that the weird kid smelled like magic and now he knew for sure. There was no mistaking that flash of gold in the others eyes as he used a spell, and the feel of his magic transferring over. Weird that such a talented kid would end up at a fuckin' Catholic school of all places. But at least he knew who kept trying to mess with him. Too bad  
nothing was going to really affect him. All these little petty tricks were meant for humans, not for something just in human form.

This last spell though... He maybe played up the sniffles but he could feel it trying to work. A normal person afflicted by it would hardly have made it out of the building without being sick like they'd had the flu for weeks. Gerard had talent and he couldn't help but be just a little bit impressed.

But now that he knew for sure- now he could really mess with him. First order of business was ditching class for a few days. Maybe sending in some fake-ass notes that he was in the hospital. Oh man, what if he convinced him he died?

Frank was in stitches by the time he got to the place he called home. A little caretakers cabin on the edge of a cemetery was perfect, and he was quick to take off his school uniform and change in to something more comfortable and less likely to be recognized as he creeped on Gerard. A black hoodie and dark jeans were good enough, and soon he was sniffing around town for Gerard's magic. It didn't take long to narrow it down to a bit of a rundown two-story house not that far from the school.

He could tell it was warded, even from almost a block away, but it was nothing that would stop him. Even so it was really strong- stronger than what he thought Gerard could do alone.

"Better safe than sorry..." He had major plans on giving him hell but they would have to wait. For now.

Until then, he dicked around town for a couple days and sent in some vague notes that he was in some sort of hospital for a sudden attack of pneumonia. He also maybe conveniently skipped a few tests that way too. Frank may have been a centuries old demon but that didn't mean he liked school any better than hell.

He got to school early when he finally decided to go back. From what he had seen, Gerard was usually late. Frank loitered outside their classroom and ducked behind the corner when he saw him hurrying through.

Right as Gerard opened the door to the classroom he ran up behind him and pinched his sides. "Did ya miss me?"

"JESUS FUCK!!"

"Gerard Way!"

Frank ran off cackling as Gerard got a talking to from the teacher about his horrible language, but not before he got a look of pure death. As he ditched class for one more day, one phrase was stuck in his head.

Oh it was on.


	4. Chapter 4

After celebrating with some not alcoholic at all 'potions' that he had hidden in his room, Gerard finally crashed, looking forward to a Frank free day at school. Mikey woke him up the next morning and was obviously confused at his brother's good mood.

"I don't think I've EVER seen you happy to go to school. What gives?"

"Maybe I finally got a spell to work. And maybe someone that's been annoying won't be there."

"You mean the new kid? Frank? Dude what is your problem with him?"

Gerard tried to answer but ended up just taking a bite of cold poptart. He looked a little guilty as he realized the only reason he didn't like Frank was because his magic didn't work on him. Being beaned in the back of the head by an eraser wasn't really that much of an issue, really...

"See, I KNEW you didn't have a reason." Mikey rolled his eyes and used a quick enchantment to heat up his coffee- he was just as addicted to it as Gerard.

"Whatever..." Even though now he felt a little bad about it, Gerard still looked forward to a day or two without that stupid jerk with his stupid hair and stupid smirk. Ugh. Stupid.

Everything was fine and dandy until about half way through the day. A runner from the main office brought in a note for the teacher, making her pause her lecture on why algebra was TOTALLY useful after high school.

The class sort of disrupted in to quiet talking while the nun looked at the note. "Excuse the interruption. Class? It seems that Frank Iero has been hospitalized for a sudden bout of pneumonia." There was a little bit of confusion as everyone looked around til they found the spot he usually sat in, and saw that it was empty. "If you could keep him in your prayers, please do so."

Gerard tried to look sad but mostly he felt guilty. He didn't mean to put him in the hospital. No one said which one so it wasn't like he could find him and try to reverse it. He didn't get a lot out of the classes that day as he worried and tried to think of ways to fix this remotely. However, even when he got home there was no remedies in the spell book. The only other way he could think was to fess up to Elena and ask for help but... she'd kick his ass before anything else. Whether or not he'd admit it, his pride was a little too much for him to want to do that.

It got even worse when Frank wasn't there the next day. The teacher called the front office and looked troubled when she heard what they had to say about his absence. Gerard went back to doodling on his worksheet but it somehow ended up rows of coffins and gravestones. Not unusual, but when he started paying attention to what he was doing and they all had the name "Frank" across them he hurried to scribble them out.

He moped on his way home that afternoon, feeling sorry for himself and how much trouble he'd get in if Elena found out he really hurt someone, when his brother elbowed him in the side.

"What happened to you? Did the lacrosse team throw your books in the fountain again?" Mikey smirked. "You shoulda waterproofed them with that spell I found when I first told you about it."

He grumbled and didn't answer as they kept walking home. Usually they didn't- Mikey had study hour for his last class and most of the time checked in so he wasn't written up and then just left- but this time Gerard skipped with him.

"I got them back for that though. Remember when they all caught lice? That was me."

Mikey cracked a smile. "They blamed it on the cheerleaders."

"Yeah well they got theirs too," he huffed. They'd made fun of hair (that was 100% better than theirs any day) for the last time when there was some sort of "accident" with their favorite brand of shampoo and it was actually bottled hair dye.

"So what's your problem today?" Mikey eyed his brother sharply through his glasses and Gerard sighed.

"I think I fucked up."

"How is that different from normal?" He grudgingly explained what he thought happened to Frank as they got home and put their stuff down. "Well why didn't you say so before? I have that divining thingy somewhere..." Mikey ran off to his room and came back with a map of the city and a crystal on a chain. "We can use this if you can find something that's his, if he's still not at school tomorrow. And then you can fix your lame mistake."

Gerard nodded solemnly, trying to figure out how he could find something of Frank's to use the next day. Whether he realized it or not, his brother making light of the situation kept him from totally freaking out.

The next day at school, he couldn't help but try to show up late. He didn't want to get there and wait for Frank to show up and just make himself more anxious. Just as he opened the door his first class, though, someone grabbed his sides and he heard a stupid familiar voice.

"Did ya miss me?"

"JESUS FUCK!!"

"Gerard Way!"

"Fuck I didn't mean it- I mean..." It was too late. The nun dragged him in to the class room and started to lecture him on using foul, blasphemous language, but not before he saw Frank running away and laughing like the asshole he was.

Only one thing was going through his head as he was berated and assigned detention... Oh it was on now...


	5. Chapter 5

Gerard sat in detention and stared at his paper. He was supposed to write about why he should never take the Lord's name in vain but. Ugh. Boring. He was the only one in there and the teacher was notorious for sneaking off in to the lounge and watching soaps. When he was sure no one else was looking he quickly enchanted the paper to be written on by what he thought. It only took him a few minutes to finish the paper, though he had to keep going back and erasing when he got too sarcastic or a stray fuck got written in. When he was done he still had almost an hour to sit there. He was thinking about pushing a few chairs together and taking a nap when there was a tapping on the window.

"Hey lemme in!" Frank was tapping on the window.

"What? No! You got me stuck in here in the first place!" Even though he knew it was a bad idea, he went over to the window and cracked it open. "What do you even want?"

"I'm bored!"

"And I'm not? You're the one that got me in here in the first place." Gerard huffed and crossed his arms. "Go away."

"Nah." Frank popped his gum and smirked. Gerard glared again and shut the window, acting like he was working on his paper in case the teacher came back. That still didn't shut out the sound of him laughing outside.

When he heard the sound of the classroom door opening, Gerard looked towards the window- no Frank. But there was still an offended gasp from the front of the room. "Gerard! How could you do this?"

"Huh? Do what?" He looked up to see her scribbling out a rude cartoon of Jesus flipping off the classroom. "What! No, I didn't do that!"

"No one else could have! Three more days of after school detention, Mr. Way and if this keeps up it might get worse."

He let out a melodramatic sigh and got up to help clean it off. Frank had something to do with this, he knew it... At least the paper was done with. He hurried to get out of there before they assigned him any more chores. When he told Mikey about it, he only laughed.

"Maybe you finally found someone to beat you at your own game."

"Hmph."

"Besides you can't prove it was him."

"Who else could have done it?" Mikey shrugged. "You're no help..."

They were out of school for the weekend and Gerard tried to get his mind off Frank for a while. He worked on a few projects for school, dreaded detention, and tried to keep things relatively clean. Elena would he stopping by soon and he and Mikey didn't want the house to be a complete disaster. She took care of them, for the most part, but even at her age (that even Gerard wasn't very sure of???) she still traveled all over the place, fixing all sorts of weird supernatural problems. Like a bad-ass Mary Poppins. Because of that she didn't always spend a lot of time at home but when she did they tried to do their best to keep things clean and not cause too much trouble.

After cleaning all weekend he wasn't looking forward to almost another week of detention at school. Gerard trudged through the day, ignoring Frank and how he seemed to know what he was in trouble for. His bad luck seemed to continue, too. His locker got stuck and made him late for class, and his shoelaces got tied together three times- once even to the desk legs. At the end of the day he even got caught in the bathroom- for some reason the stupid door was stuck for almost ten minutes, making him late for detention and the teacher gave him ANOTHER day.

He dropped in to the desk seat before he realized who was sitting next to him.

"Sup?"

Gerard let his head drop to the desk with a thud. Why, WHY was Frank in detention with him? He didn't realize he was groaning out the word until Frank answered.

"I tossed a few lacrosse sticks on to the roof. Bastards were asking for it."

He made a noncommittal agreeing sort of noise and kept his head down. He didn't need this. Due to the previous detention session's 'artwork' he wasn't going to be left unsupervised. This time there was one of the more stringent teachers left in the the room. He scrawled notes out for the next morning's class on to the chalkboard while they sat around.

After a while he started to get bored and in his boredom he noticed something odd... His shoelaces were tied together again. Frowning, he leaned down to untie them. Who could have done that though? He would have noticed Frank getting down on all fours to tie them together. He turned his head slightly to watch him, partly hidden by his long hair. Frank had his tongue out slightly, and looked like he was drawing in the air with his pointer finger. Gerard frowned harder and looked up while gasping. There was a piece of chalk floating in the air, rubbing chalky dust on the back of the teachers black vest.

The gasp startled Frank and the chalked dropped to the floor. Only then did Gerard finally sense the little bit of foreign magic in the air.

"Frank!" he hissed. "That was you?!"

The other boy only tried to hide his startled look and grinned guiltily. "Maybe?"

"No talking!" The teacher turned around, oblivious to the chalk marks on his back, and gave them a talking to about respect before going back to the lesson plan.

Gerard went back to staring at his desk, wondering who in the world this guy was. He didn't see Frank biting his lip as he looked at him and would never have guessed what he was thinking.

"Hoooooly shit, you're HOT when you're mad."


	6. Chapter 6

Gerard was pretty quick to get out of detention as fast as possible. He didn't want to be around Frank any more than necessary, especially since he probably knew what he tried to do to him all those times. He tried to pretend he needed to get home so Mikey wasn't there by himself, but mostly he didn't want to be caught alone by Frank.

Most of the night was sent waiting for Elena while Gerard got things ready for the next day at school. They didn't know when she would get home, so for a good few hours he worked on sewing little bits of protective herbs to the inside of his school blazer.

"You're gonna get caught and suspended for trying to sell drugs if you don't hide that better." Mikey laughed and was absolutely no help, pelting Gerard with larger pieces of rock salt from the little baggie he was going to carry around with him the next day.

"I don't really care." He winced as another piece of salt hit him on the eye. "Cut that out! I don't know who I've been messing with so I figure I should take all precautions."

"You're worried you pissed off the wrong person. Haha."

Gerard didn't reply. Once he had everything ready he did his best to clean up, trying to wait up for their grandmother. They both ended up falling asleep on the couch, though Gerard was pushed on to the floor when Mikey woke up and realized they'd both be late. The two of them scurried around to get dressed and scarf something to eat before they left.

They split up once they got to the school- Mikey's classes were on the other side of the sprawling school- and soon Gerard made it to class, just before the bell rang. He silently made a promise to himself not to use magic for the rest of the day at school. It wouldn't be very good if he started some sort of feud with someone else on school grounds. To be totally honest, he wouldn't care if he got hurt, but from the day he started showing his magical ability it had been beaten in to him not to let innocents get harmed. Sulking already, he almost didn't notice Frank already staring at him with a goofy grin. He popped his gum a few times before the teacher started that morning's lecture.

The rest of the morning was mostly Gerard ignoring Frank and trying to forget about the day before. But all day, ALL DAY he had to deal with that stupid popping gum. Somehow Frank had a seat next to him in nearly all his classes, and it was pop. Pop. Pop. until he thought he was going to explode. He glared at Frank but that only made him smile and stick his tongue out. He went to pop the gum again and this time he was ready- he muttered a quick air spell under his breath and the gum inflated to a bubble almost the size of a softball before popping.

"What the fu-" He cut himself off right as the teacher turned to glare, and concentrated on trying to get the sticky gum off his glasses and out of the long fringe of his hair. He grumbled when it was Gerard's turn to smirk and look triumphant. He could feel Frank trying to do SOMETHING but there wasn't anything that affected him. He moved in his seat a little and displayed the packet of salt tied to the side of his belt, half-hidden in his pocket.

Frank growled low in his throat and bared his teeth a little before he took a deep breath and looked away. Gerard felt like he had been pinned by that stare and he didn't notice the blush on his cheeks as he looked away. He still smirked, knowing he had finally one-upped him.

Detention that afternoon didn't go too bad either. Frank sat on the other side of the classroom instead of right next to him, and he disappeared as soon as their hour was up. Gerard didn't linger too long either, hurrying to get home.

Once he was there he saw a long box sitting on the kitchen table. There was a card with his name on it sitting on top. Curious, he opened it up.

"Gerard

I'm so sorry I couldn't stay for more than a few minutes. There were some urgent issues I needed to take care of, and I just wanted to stop by and give you and your brother some things I had picked up over the last few jobs. This is for you- use it well!

And make sure you and your brother get enough sleep, and use the grocery money for actual groceries! If I have to replace junk food with real food one more time I'll be taking it out on you!

Love, Elena"

He was more than a little sad that he had missed her visit, but he also wanted to know what was in the box. It was gift wrapped and he tore it up like a kid on Christmas only to find something very much that he hadn't expected.

"A croquet mallet??" He picked it up and tried to figure out what the hell this was. It didn't feel any different. The head was a little scuffed and there were some grass stains on it from use. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?"

"Maybe read the card again?"

Gerard thought he jumped three feet in the air when Mikey suddenly appeared in front of him. "What the fuck!"

"I got this sweet new book from Grandma, check it out." He laughed and suddenly disappeared, only to show up on the other side of the kitchen.

"Cut that out! You gave me a heart attack..." Gerard glared and looked at the card. There was another slip of paper in it that he had missed. There were only a few words on it. "I am the master of the wicket," he read out, holding the mallet in one hand. Suddenly he felt a surge of power from the seemingly normal object and nearly dropped it. "Holy shit..." Mikey was too busy poofing around the house to notice, so Gerard took his new magical instrument upstairs thinking that if this could be used as a weapon he'd be the best magical girl.

He was going to start tinkering with it- trying to figure out how it worked and why it had such a lame saying to activate- when there was a weird noise from outside. It sounded like something hitting the house. Thud. Thud. Thud. When he went to open the window, he had to dodge something thrown right at his face that splattered on the window he pulled back down at the last second. He opened it again, someone was throwing eggs at the wrong house!

"Who the hell-" He cut off when he hears a familiar cackle. Gerard slammed the window shut and ran outside.

Frank hadn't bothered to run far at all. He still had a mostly full carton of eggs and was still throwing them at the side of the house when Gerard finally made it out.

"What the fuck?! What are you, twelve?"

"What's it to you?" Frank tossed an egg up in to the air a few times, showing off that annoying smirk that Gerard absolutely hated.

Finally he couldn't take it any more. Even if this ended up in some huge magic fight (fuck, he thought, why didn't he bring down the mallet when he saw who it was?) he couldn't take being so annoyed by this short moron. Gerard lost his temper and grabbed him by the collar, pushing him against the house. He pushed him around a little for good measure, smearing egg on the back of his jacket.

"What's your fucking problem!? What did I ever do to you!"

Frank didn't try to fight back. He only kept smirking. "Well. When you look back at it, YOU were the one that started it." He laughed a little, grabbing on to Gerard's hands and winking.

"You motherfucker! What do you even want! Who are you! How did you even stop those spells in the first place!?" He tried to call up a spell but was too heated to be able to think of anything. His mind went even more blank as he watched Frank's eyes slowly turn black, the dark color edging in from the outside in. Once he realized what he was seeing, he let go of Frank and stumbled backwards.

"...demon......."

Frank laughed- he actually giggled!- as Gerard turned tail and ran back in the house and up to his room. Totally forgetting about the croquet mallet, he slammed the door shut and warded it as fast as he could, doing his best not to stumble over the words. He was panting when he finally finished, and leaned against his now fully protected room. His eyes snapped open when he heard a familiar, infuriating pop.

Frank was laying on his bed, reading one of his comic books. "What's up?

"AH!!" Gerard opened his door, obliterating the wards, and running downstairs to find his brother. "MIKEY! Mikey get your ass up here I need your help!!" When he finally found him, still poofing around the house with the stupid spell, and dragged him back to his room, Frank was no where to be found.

Mikey spent the next hour listening to Gerard yell and rant about how the house was a piece of shit that wasn't protected like Elena said it was, kicking walls and slamming doors. Neither of them noticed Frank sitting across the street and laughing as he thumbed through Gerard's comic book. This had been more fun than he bargained for, that was for sure.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HAHA WHOOPS

The next few days at school were the worst. Ever. It started to get dark and gross earlier, and cold, since it was just now the beginning of October. Gerard kept his pockets lined with protective herbs and stones until the class stoner tried to buy some off of him (Well. More like DID buy some off of him; who was Gerard to turn down $40 for some dried out basil?) and he sat on a pointy crystal one too many times.

Detention with Frank was even worse now that he knew what he was. Gerard spent the first detention session on the other side of the room from him. Every time he looked over, Frank only just seemed to be laughing to himself about something. And he still had the comic book he stole. Disgruntled and paranoid, Gerard practically ran home after detention, not wanting to get caught alone.

Unfortunately, Frank was already waiting around at his house when he got there. He looked like he was just setting the comic book down on the porch swing that was still damp from the drizzle that had been falling all day.

"Hey no! Don't put it there!" Forgetting himself for a moment, Gerard ran up and practically snatched the paper book out of Frank's hand. "That's my favorite issue..."

"Ultimate Spider-Man though? I didn't think you were that mainstream." He laughed and suddenly disappeared, though Gerard got a sudden chill on the back of his neck from the magic he used. Shaking his head and trying to stop himself from shivering, he headed inside. Mikey didn't seem bothered by the fact that a DEMON had STOLEN his FAVORITE comic book and only shrugged.

"Well he gave it back, right?"

"That's not the point!" Gerard grumbled and put it back on the shelf where it belonged, but not after inspecting it for any damage or residual magic.

He was still paranoid the next (and hopefully final) detention. Frank still hadn't openly messed with him, and he finally shook out all the dried bits of plants out of his jacket. He had to admit, he was a little tired of smelling like a spice rack. That didn't stop him from cautiously going through Elena's jewelry until he found a little silver cross that he wore under his shirt. Just in case. Though, he had to admit, Frank was already going to a Catholic school so there probably wasn't much point.

Frank sat a little closer this time, drawing something on a piece of notebook paper. Eventually Gerard's curiosity got the better of him and he leaned over to see what it was. When he finally got a good look, nearly falling out of his chair, he saw a (badly) drawn picture of Frank throwing eggs at him. He kind of frowned until he saw what Frank was working on under it... A picture of Frank helping Gerard out of his egg-y clothes and-

There was a flurry of scribbles and crinkling paper when Frank finally noticed Gerard looking. He hurried to put on his mirrored sunglasses and pretend he was just stuffing the paper in his jacket for fun, and Gerard could see the blush on his face in the reflection of the glasses. Frank moved the paper so fast he wasn't sure exactly what he saw but he definitely didn't see any clothes, that was for sure.

This time it was Frank that left the classroom first, so fast that he thought he had teleported out even though there was a teacher there to tell them their time was up. Gerard didn't run home quite so fast that day, though he still looked around when he got there. He didn't see anything at first, til he got up to his room and saw a crumpled up piece of paper on his bed under a cold can of Diet Coke.

There wasn't anything on the paper but some scribbled out words. He peered at the suspiciously, worried they might be a curse or hex, until he realized that they just said "ur cool" and it was probably left there on accident. Gerard wasn't sure WHAT to think of that, but he cracked open the soda and figured that if that really was meant for him, a cold can of soda wasn't going to do him any harm. He had to remind himself to be mad at Frank, for sneaking into his room, but hey if it got him a free Diet Coke he would let it slide this time.

The next day at school was the first day without detention in a week and Gerard was grateful. He couldn't wait to get home and get out of the nasty weather, that was getting colder and windier. He thought he'd get away from Frank for once, but he grumbled when he saw the shorter boy following him.

"What do you want? Leave me alone." He huddled up in his coat, but still somehow had wind getting to him through that and his blazer.

"I'm bored and you seem like fun. Got a problem with that?" Frank smirked. He didn't seem cold. In fact, when Gerard really looked at him, he wasn't affected by the wind at all. His jacket and hair were still like he was standing inside.

"Stupid..." He ignored him as he continued to walk, wishing he had a scarf. By the time he got home, Frank had disappeared again. There was no notes or clues to an intruder in his room, but he still thought he sensed a recent presence there. Brushing it off to him being overly paranoid, or Mikey snooping around for his potion kit, he was actually in bed at a decent time. It was warmer and more comfy in bed in his oversized skeleton pajamas than it was staying up and playing games or watching movies. He was, surprisingly, asleep before ten.

\---

Ugh. Class. Gerard looked down at his copy of The Great Gatsby. The classroom number was written on the side, since he forgot his copy AGAIN. At least he still had those cliffnotes hidden on his lap. It was supposed to be silent reading time for everyone to get caught up to the next chapter but most people had already gotten that far and were talking quietly. It made it just that harder to concentrate, even on the abbreviated notes.

For some reason Frank's desk was a little closer than normal. He had to practically climb over his desk to get out, if he wanted to. Frank didn't seem bothered though, only drawing something else. Probably something gross and lewd just meant to bother Gerard. He grumbled and tried to read some more.

Except suddenly he was a little warm. He took off his jacket and noticed that he was in detention. Again? Ugh. Who the hell told the teachers he had filled the lacrosse locker room air fresheners with that gross stuff you use to hide your scent while hunting? He looked out through the open windows. At least it was nice and sunny outside. The walk home would be awesome. Frank was looking out the window too, still super close to his desk. Maybe he'd give the hellspawn a chance, he hadn't done anything yet. They could walk home and watch some scary movies or something.

Gerard leaned back on his bed and kicked his shoes off. Frank was sitting next to him, fiddling with his tv remote. It kept switching between static and that weird striped thing though.

"Your tv sucks man, you should get a better one." Frank leaned up next to him, oddly warm even though the room had the air on full blast.

"You don't have to be here to watch it." He subconsciously shifted closer, enjoying the warmth since the room was so cold.

He laughed a little, but still leaned closer. "Well... there is something else we could do..." Frank nuzzled his nose against Gerard's neck, and he tried to hold back a shiver. He could feel the others hot breath and gulped.

Gerard tried to hold still and ignore it as Frank slid his lips along his jaw and to his chin, leaning so close he was practically in his lap. He tilted his chin with his hot fingertips and gave Gerard a soft, surprisingly shy kiss. He repeated it a few times before Gerard finally started to kiss back and he found his hand tracing around the slight curve of Frank's side. He had dreams like this before but-

Wait a second. Dreams? Gerard tried to do his best to remember how he had gotten to his room. Had he walked home? Stolen Mikey's teleporting spell? Did Frank take him home? Nothing added up and he froze, starting to panic slightly.

"Shit... shit shit shit!" Frank suddenly pulled back and disappeared with a loud ripping noise. Gerard gasped and sat up, panting.

His room was freezing, ice cold. The window was open and there was that faint scent of magic that he had gotten from Frank before. It had been a dream. Something influenced and invaded by Frank, too. Ugh it made him feel more than a little weird to know that stupid demon had been in his mind. Top it all off, thanks to that stupid dream, he now had an awkward and uncomfortable boner. He groaned and threw himself back on the bed. Frank would have hell to pay tomorrow, that's for sure...


	8. Chapter 8

Mikey heat up his coffee in the microwave, still not quite awake enough to trust himself with a warming spell. The clock above the stove said that it wasn't quite 7 A.M. yet, but he thought it was better to get going before he actually had to be at school than get there and sleep half the day. Which was the complete opposite of how Gerard was, but whatever, his brother's grades weren't his problem.

It was almost a half hour later when he went up to go bang on Gerard's door. "Wake up! If we don't leave by 8 we'll be late!"

He heard a faint groan from behind the door. It was better than nothing. When he went up to try to wake him up again five minutes later, he was surprised to find Gerard actually up, though he was still in his stupid four-sizes-too-big skeleton pajamas.

"You want some coffee?" Mikey tried to guess what his problem was but he just kind of sat there on the floor and shook his head.

"I think. I'm gonna stay home today. I uh. I didn't sleep very well last night."

"Why? You sick?" He leaned down and tried to get a look at Gerard's face. He looked a little flushed. Maybe he had a fever. "Elena left a ton of healing spells and potions in case-"

Gerard shook his head. The more Mikey tried to look the more he tried to turn away, looking awkward and... blushing? And he wasn't lying. He looked like he'd gotten a total of ten minutes of sleep, but not for lack of trying. The covers on his bed were thrown all over the floor and the fitted sheet was half untucked from the mattress.

"You want me to bring your homework home after school?" Mikey took a gulp of coffee and stood up straight. He had a feeling he knew what this was about, but didn't say anything yet.

"I'll be fine." He grimaced and Mikey held back a snort of laughter. Whatever... or whoever... he was avoiding was apparently worse than a day of missed school work.

"Suit yourself. I'll be back after school."

Mikey headed downstairs and to his room in the basement. There had definitely been another kind of magic in that room recently, strong enough to make him want to sneeze. One of the talents that stood him apart from Gerard was his ability to literally smell magic. Two people casting the exact same spell would still have a different scent. His brother smelled like candle smoke and hot glass, and what he could sense under that was something else entirely.

After grabbing his backpack and filling up a thermos with more hot coffee, he headed to school a little early. He wanted a chance to confirm his suspicions before he made any concrete guesses.

The school had a faint, bleachy sort of smell. Most religious institutions did. Even though they were overused and hardly believed in, religious icons still had a sort of magic that could seep in to the walls. After a few minutes of getting used to it, he started to sniff around for what he had smelled in Gerard's room. There were traces of it through the school- a sharp sulfur with a bit of what smelled like damp charcoal. It made him feel like he wanted to sneeze, just like it had in his brother's room. How had he not noticed this before?

After a good half hour of searching, and missing a few minutes of his first class, Mikey snuck in and sat down to make a note of his findings. So far the sulfur magic was mostly concentrated around Gerard's, but it was pretty much everywhere. If he was right (and he was pretty sure he was) that it was that new kid Frank, then he had been in Gerard's room using magic for... some reason. Some reason that left his brother sleepless and blushing...

He squinted suspiciously at his list of evidence before tucking it in his jacket for later. Most of the day went like normal, though the scent of sulfur got stronger when he went to go eat lunch. He had finally migrated inside with Ray Toro to the lunch room when it got just too gross to sit outside in the courtyard any more.

Ray was cool, as was his lion mane of curly hair. He didn't say anything when Mikey talked about his magic, or how he thought Frank really was a demon like Gerard said, or even when he was worried that he'd be a bad influence on Gerard (he didn't need to miss any more school than necessary). He only nodded and offered advice, and said he'd let Gerard out of his locker if he got stuck in there again.

The two of them had gone comfortably quiet and Mikey was sharing his coffee thermos when someone new sat down at their table. He and Ray exchanged looks before turning to practically pin the newcomer to his chair.

"You're Gerard's brother, right?" Frank was trying to play it cool, but kept playing with that long fringe of hair that nearly went down to his jawline. Mikey tried to keep a straight face but was dying of laughter inside. He was right, he was right about everything!

"And you're the demon who snuck in to his room last night."

Frank paled a little but didn't say anything. "Do you know where he is?"

"Oh I don't know. He didn't get a lot of sleep last night and decided to skip class today. Know any reason why?" Ray had his elbows on the table and was watching them with an interested expression.

"Oh. Well. Uh." Frank shifted in his seat and both Mikey and Ray let out a laugh when they saw a blush rising on his cheeks.

"Oh my god. I don't care what Gerard does in his spare time, geez." Mikey still had a smile on his face as he leaned in close to Frank. "But if you hurt him I'll put your ass so far down in hell you'll be digging your way out for the next hundred years."

When he finally leaned back and pushed up his glasses, still smiling, he he hoped he had put the (metaphorical) fear of god in to Frank. Really he didn't care what Gerard did as long as no one got hurt.

Mikey stood up and put his back pack over one shoulder when the bell rang. "See you later, Frank." He couldn't wait to get home and give Gerard all sorts of hell about this.


	9. Chapter 9

He'd ruined everything...

Frank lay face down in the damp grass. This was his favorite grave. As long as no one bothered him, he might be able to think and figure out-

There was a quiet sizzle of hellfire boiling away the drizzling rain. "No. Go away. I do not need you here."

"Oh please, you're moping worse than the time Satan kicked your ass at Guitar Hero." Someone sat down next to Frank and pushed an unlit cigarette against his nose.

Moaning dramatically, he sat up and accepted the offer. Bob was the closest thing Frank had to a minion, if you could call him that, though mainly he used his ties to kick Frank's ass when he needed. Which was probably now, he admitted to himself.

"So what did you do this time."

"I got caught sneaking into someone's dreams..." He rolled around as he grumbled out the story, burning up most of the cigarette when Bob only started laughing.

"Hey man, it was your fault. You know that when someone uses magic they usually ward their dreams. Even if it's subconsciously. Trying to make out on your first attempt is pretty stupid." Bob scratched at his blond stubble and shook his head.

"Shut up I know it was stupid!" Frank finally sat still as he leaned against the cold headstone. "Why are you even here?"

"You haven't checked in for a while. You should probably do that soon."

He rolled his eyes. Stupid roll call. He'd skipped it before and he'd skip it again. "Yeah whatever. I'll get around there eventually."

"Your choice man." Bob kicked the other demon's feet before disappearing in a poof of smoke that turned in to a skull and crossbones. Frank rolled his eyes. He always was one for the more subtle theatrics.

He finally dried himself off and went home for the night. He wouldn't avoid Gerard the next day, exactly. But that didn't mean he had to act like he remembered getting caught.

\--

Gerard finally talked himself in to going to class the next day. What was Frank going to do, tell everyone he had some sort of messed up dream about him? He spent the entire morning ignoring him, and it looked like Frank was going to do the same thing. He still followed him around like a lost puppy though. Thankfully by the time he walked home, Frank was gone.

"Mikey it's fucking cold! Why didn't you light the fireplace!" Gerard complained and huffed as he got home, putting some firewood into the fireplace that his brother was SUPPOSED to enchant so that it burned without burning away. Frowning when he didn't get a response, even a melodramatic moan from downstairs, he peeked down the steps in to the basement. When he concentrated he frowned deeper. Did he feel someone else in the house? Or was it his imagination? "Mikey?"

"Hold on!" He peeked out of the door way. "What do you want?"

"The fireplace was cold."

"Well you lit it right?"

Gerard rolled his eyes. "It's your job, you get home first."

Mikey didn't answer, and he grumbled to himself. At least he could hang up his jacket and dry it off from the stupid rain. Maybe later he'd look around for that spellbook Elena gave him, and get that teleporting spell. It seemed pretty handy.

That night he took special effort to shield his dreams, more so than usual. He for sure didn't want anyone seeing dreams that ranged from being dragged to hell by Frank to something even spicier than the relatively tame dream the demon had induced himself.

That night was the worst though. Gerard continued to ignore how Frank followed him closer and closer home, talking until he would abruptly disappear. While he stopped getting outright harassed there were still little things that bugged him. Frank winking at him suddenly during class with totally blacked out eyes (creepy). A shitty drawing of Gerard sleeping in his skeleton pajamas stuffed in to his locker (it was so badly drawn it was more creppy than anything). A six pack of Diet Coke in the fridge (not so creepy at all really). All evidence that while he was doing his best to ignore Frank, Frank definitely wasn't ignoring him.

He also noticed how weird Mikey acted if he ever got home earlier than normal. Always running back downstairs when Gerard got home, like he was trying to hide something. Probably just messing with some sort of magic he wasn't supposed to. At least, that's what he thought up until a week full of weird shenanigans later.

Class had gotten out early on account of some sort of pep rally. Gerard didn't really want to stick around to watch the cheerleaders jump around in their lame winter outfits, so he slipped out the back while they were dragging in the poor mascot. He got home around the same time his brother did and hurried to kick off his damp shoes and socks. He looked towards the fireplace- it was cold, again!

"Mikey!! What the hell?!" He yelled loud enough to be heard downstairs but instead of the usual grumbling he heard something from the rarely used den. "Mikey?" He peeked his head in to the room to the sound of chainsaws and cheerleader screams from the television, and both his brother and Frank sitting on the couch cheering on whoever was leading this particular massacre.

"Go! Run faster, come on she dropped the keys to the car you can get her!" Frank hooted and cheered until Gerard stomped in.

"Mikey! What the fuck!? Why are you letting him in here! He is a DEMON and a JERK and I DON'T LIKE HIM!!"

"Wait, I'm actually here you know-"

"Hey chill out. He brought over some awesome movies and he hasn't done anything too stupid since I let him start hanging out here."

"He's been here before!!!" Gerard just stared at them both. He was too worked up to think of any spells though he could think of a few choice words for the both of them as soon as he could get past the feeling of absolute and utter betrayal. Once he thought he had found his voice again, though, he started to relax. It felt like he was suddenly dunked in a warm bath and he closed his eyes and sighed before he realized what was happening.

"What? No... Cut it out." The venom was taken out of his voice though, and both Mikey and Frank were laughing. At least his brother had the decency to hide his smile behind his hand, Frank was practically rolling off the couch. "I mean it, stop." He glared but it turned more apathetic than anything. Part of him didn't want to fight it either, which made him feel even worse.

"No way, man. This is too fun." Frank stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth, looking like he was about to do something else.

Gerard didn't let him take that chance. He turned around and started walking to the stairs to his room. By the time he got to the stairs the spell was wearing off and he stomped as loud as he could, drowning out the noises from downstairs.

"Oh you big baby!" Mikey yelled out from downstairs but Gerard ignored him. He slammed the door and tried to continue to ignore the sounds of the two of them having fun. Stupid brother and his stupid tolerance for evil beings. HE wanted to watch slasher flicks too but NO, not unless they were going to use stupid mood altering spells. Ugh. This was the worst Friday ever.

They were up til almost two watching stupid movies that he would have loved to watch. Gerard stayed up out of spite, as much as he tried to go to sleep. His skeleton pajamas weren't very much protection when he felt another presence there with him in the dark. He pretended to be asleep, holding still under the mountain of blankets he had on his bed. He heard Frank curse under his breath as he stumbled on something, and sit down on the floor next to the bed.

"I go in to dreams to fuck shit up. I know you're faking."

Gerard groaned and rolled over, turning his back to the room to face the wall. "Leave me alone."

"No way, you overreact and it's funny."

"Get out of my room, asshole."

"Nah. Unless you want to get up and make me."

He had to suppress a shiver at the challenging words. Ugh. Stupid Frank and his stupid face that probably had that STUPID smirk. He didn't want to sleep either, especially since he knew what Frank did LAST time, but exhaustion won over eventually.

\--

Frank could tell exactly when Gerard fell asleep. He looked on to the bed. How could he frown even now? Geez, what a hardass. He got up on the foot of the bed and peeked in to his dreams. Not going in fully- he didn't know if he could resist trying to make out again even though he'd just get caught. No, this time he just watched, leaning back on the bed and putting his feet up.

Most of his dreams were normal. Just kind of repeats of the day. Frank was considering maybe going away when he suddenly found his attention captured. What was this? Gerard was at school in this dream. Not too different, but suddenly a rift opened up in the floor and- Frank was climbing out? DreamFrank grabbed Gerard by the feet and dragged him down in to hell. Wow. Stereotypical much?

The dream suddenly changed to DreamFrank dragging Gerard from burning lava and pitch to pulling him in to a bubble bath. Now this he could get behind.

'No, cut it out. I want to be mad at you, asshole...' Gerard relaxed in to the tub, still mumbling angry things that popped up in bubbles. This must have been what that relaxing spell felt like to him. Frank made a mental note to try using that again later, maybe when it wouldn't be such an obvious change from super pissed to apparently bubble bath relaxed.

He couldn't resist messing with him, just a little. He put a few eels in the bathtub that would put Freud to shame, and giggled as he watched Gerard jump out and gasp as he woke himself up. When he saw Frank sitting on the edge of his bed, he kicked him til he fell on to the floor.

"Ow... that fuckin' hurt..."

"Stay out of my dreams, you jerk," was all he mumbled before passing out again. Again with the tense dreams and angry frown. Frank looked around (like there would be someone to see him) and quietly put the relaxing spell on Gerard. Enough to last the rest of the night and help him sleep, before heading downstairs to go watch some more movies and camp out on the couch. Maybe it was fun messing around in his dreams, but he also wanted the chance to mess around in real life. He figured a little bit of delayed gratification never hurt anyone.


	10. Chapter 10

Frank was still there when Gerard woke up the next morning, feeling a lot better than he had in a few days. He guessed he had slept better for some reason but couldn't figure it out as he stumbled downstairs. When he got to the kitchen, he only glared at Frank and opened the fridge to get some milk. He was already up and talking with Mikey. Ugh. How were morning people even legal? Only once he had a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal did he bother to try to talk to either of them.

"You missed an awesome movie marathon last night, Gee. We even made popcorn in the old air popper." He pointed to a mostly cleaned up counter, where there were still a bunch of spilled kernels and a few splashes of butter.

He squinted sleepily at Frank, who was laughing in to his coffee up. "What's your problem."

"Gee? Really?" He laughed a little more. "And I thought Frankie was a bad nickname."

Gerard only grumbled and pulled the hood of his pajamas up. Of COURSE Mikey would use that in front of Frank. He'd probably never hear the end of it.

When Frank stayed at the house for the rest of the morning, Gerard was pretty sure nothing was going to kick him out. Mikey even let him borrow one of his shirts, and was asking him all sorts of questions about hell and what it was like there. He was doing this on purpose, he was sure of it. Rather than listen to Frank tell his life story, he headed upstairs to his room and got out the Big Spellbook.

This is what he copied spells out of to practice at school, or without having to get the giant book out. The thing could kill a small dog if you dropped it. The copied spells just didn't seem to work the best though. And for what he wanted to use it for, he had to make sure it was going to be perfect.

First things first: he had to get out all the ingredients and materials. This one was simple but could mess up pretty bad if he wasn't careful. He had to have a mirror, and a few potions he had premade to make things easier, and then a personal object from the person he wanted to contact. He followed the directions to treat the mirror with the potions by the book, though he could probably do it from memory. Soon the reflective surface of the hand mirror had gone completely black. Gerard couldn't hold back a shudder when he realized it reminded him of Frank's eyes, but... he wasn't exactly sure if it was because he was scared or- He shook his head. He didn't want to think about that.

The last step was to give the mirror something to use to find who he wanted to talk to. He reached under his pajamas and pulled out the silver cross he had borrowed from his grandmother's jewelry box. It sunk in to the black hand mirror, but he wasn't worried. It would spit it back out as soon as he ended the call.

The mirror stayed still and black and Gerard was worried that she was far enough away for the time difference to be something to worry about, or she was too busy to talk. He was about to end it himself when the darkness shifted from flat black to something a little more natural.

"Gerard? Is that you?" The familiar voice was a little sleepy, and he winced. He had woken her up.

"Hey gramma. Yeah it's me." He held the mirror up better. "Am I calling at a bad time?"

"No, no it's fine. I just had a little trouble dealing with a dragon and-"

"A dragon!?"

"Oh just a little Chinese one that was harassing tourists. I got some scales for you though, if you promise to use them for something nice."

"Hell yeah!" He heard a disapproving noise and winced. "I mean, yeah yeah. I'll do that."

"Sorry I couldn't stay very long last week. How are you liking what I brought for you?"

Gerard told her about the croquet mallet and how he hadn't used it yet but planned to, and how Mikey used that stupid teleportation spell ALL THE TIME. He it his lip when he considered telling her about Frank... she'd probably tell him to banish him already, instead of sitting around and letting him lurk around the house.

"So yeah. We're both going to school and doing work and stuff. And the house hasn't caught on fire yet," he joked.

"I certainly hope not," Elena said dryly. "Is there anything else you want to tell me about?"

"Um..." He bit his lip. Stupid mirror, not letting him see his grandmother, when he knew she could see him just fine. "No. Not really."

He heard a patient sigh that he probably wasn't supposed to. "Be good, and be careful. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call. I'll try to be home soon for a little longer."

"Alright. I love you."

"I love you too Gerard."

The mirror went black after that, and then the silver necklace fell out before it turned normal and reflective. He set the mirror down on the book and sighed. She probably could have helped him with Frank but... but nothing, he didn't want to tell anyone how stupid and confused the demon made him feel. After carefully shutting the book (everyone knows you never EVER slam books like that shut) and putting up his materials, he decided that the dark and drizzly October day was a good day for a nap. He knew he was risking things with Frank probably still downstairs in the house but...

Hmph. He'd take a nap whenever he damn well pleased.

\--

Frank was downstairs, playing Left 4 Dead with Mikey, when he suddenly paused.

"Hurry up, I'm gonna get eaten!" Mikey was on the edge of his seat, smashing buttons and trying to run away from a Tank.

"Huh? Oh sorry." He finally got his head back in the game but not before the other was nearly finished off by the giant zombie. He couldn't help it though. With Gerard so close, he could tell almost instantly when he fell asleep, even if he wasn't trying to sense it. Once they finished the level, he stood up and stretched. "I think I might actually head home soon."

"You sure? It's fun as fuck watching Gerard get all pissy just because you're in the house."

"Yeah. It'll give me more time to mess with him later." He laughed and started to look for his shoes. "I'll give you your shirt back Monday at school."

"Nah don't worry about it. At least take it to hell first before you give it back. Please?"

Frank laughed again, hoping that it would hide what he felt was an obvious lie. "Sure thing."

After gathering up the few belongings he had brought with him and leaving, he walked about a block away before hiding behind some bushes. He didn't see anyone following him... He transported himself back to their house, under Gerard's window. As much as he said he wanted to wait the day before, it was almost too much. He hadn't even bothered to ward his lazy nap dreams either.

After arguing with himself for a few minutes, he finally climbed up through Gerard's second story window. He shut it this time- it was a stupid mistake to make the room so cold last time and that had probably added up to Gerard realizing he was there. He peered in to the hood of the skeleton pajamas and bit his lip. There he was, all asleep and unprotected. He hardly had time to realize what he was doing before he stepped fully in to his dreams.

"Boring..." Frank looked around. He was just sitting in his room flipping through a spellbook. How lame. He sat down behind him, wrapping his arms around Gerard's waist and resting his chin on his shoulder.

"Huh?" Gerard looked around but when he stayed silent he kept looking through the book.

He peeked over. Even in the dream it had accurate directions and recipes. Gerard had either memorized it front to back or it was more powerful in real life than it looked, and was able to manifest on other planes. Frank sort of just shrugged and hugged a little tighter. Why wouldn't he let him do this in real life? Yeah sure, maybe he'd done a few too many pranks but... that was no reason they couldn't cuddle. He wasn't sure how long he stayed like that til he decided to make a move.

Gerard made a displeased noise when he let go. But soon he was moving around to sit on his crossed legs, pressing his lips against the human's neck. The sad noise turned in to a little bit of a hoarse gulp and Frank grinned as he enjoyed the close contact. He just had to make sure not to move too fast. As long as he took things slow, Gerard wouldn't realize what was happening-

He yelped when someone grabbed the back of his shirt and started to pull him away. "H-hey! Let me go!" He tried to step out of the dream but whoever had a hold on him was way more powerful in dreams than he was. He struggled for a few seconds before he felt like someone kicked him in the ass, HARD, and he ended up on the floor of Gerard's bedroom, back in the real world. "Ow..." 

There was no way to tell who that was but when he went to check and see if he could find a trace of the magic in the others dream he felt like someone slapped him on the hand. Pouting, he only then noticed the ironclad wards that surrounded Gerard. He grumbled and after realizing there wasn't anything else he could do, he left the room and went back home to try to plan.

The next few weeks felt like torture for Frank. He wanted Gerard so bad, just to reach out and touch him, or nibble his lip, or slip a hand down his pants... ANYTHING! He found himself sitting closer to Gerard, bumping shoulders with him in the halls, practically sitting in his lap at lunch. Gerard didn't even seem to notice either! He pushed him away and glared or just moved over or completely ignored it. This was even worse than before, when Gerard tried to prank him. At least then he'd been paying attention.

He found himself taking things out on the other students at the Catholic school. He'd flip pages of someone's bible during Mass, make the walls drip with blood when that teacher was in the classroom all alone, and even gave himself a nice halo of black flames when that one guy followed him in to the staircase. But even all those pranks did nothing to make him want Gerard any less.

Sure he had messed around with other humans and demons, but something about this particular human was different. Maybe it was how he kept ignoring Frank. Maybe it was because even though Mikey wasn't ignoring him, he looked too much like his brother for him to be comfortable. Or maybe it was because he could sneak in to Gerard's room and watch him sleep, but he was too freaked out at whoever was protecting him to try to go get some action in a dream.

Basically all of this was enough to get him frustratingly horny every single day, and not a lot could be done to stop it.


	11. It's about damn time!

It was getting pretty close to Halloween, and Gerard found that the closer they were getting to the date the more it was getting harder to completely ignore Frank.

He still had what Mikey called 'little breakdowns' whenever Frank got too close, glaring and sometimes pushing him away. But he thought it might just be easier to ignore him. That didn't stop the dreams though- ones that he was pretty sure weren't actually caused by Frank, or else he wouldn't seem so needy and clingy in real life. He lost count of how many times he'd dreamed of making out with Frank while his eyes were totally blacked out, or waking up out of breath after a dream where he was stripping Frank out of his uniform. He tried not to think about that too much though...

Frank seemed to back off just a little the day of the 31st, however. Gerard didn't know if he should be relieved or worried that he was planning something. He was even gone from the last hour of classes too- usually that was his favorite class, sitting next to Gerard and trying to rub his knee against him and ready to follow him home.

No matter what was going on, Gerard just tried not to think about it. Maybe Frank would give up haunting and freaking out those other kids, too. He had heard rumors of some sort of evil ghost. There was only one person that could be. 

But whatever. He was getting his favorite holiday demon-free and he was going to go home, watch scary movies with his brother and pig out on candy. Maybe even spook the trick or treaters if they tried to stop at his house this time.

When he got home though, he was more than a little disappointed. Mikey wasn't home, and half the candy was gone. There was a note that he was going to spend the night at Ray's and hang out there. He pouted a little and brought up a little bit of candy and snacks to his room to watch movies up there. It just wasn't the same without his brother though. He would have loved it- there was a cold and lightning-filled thunderstorm that would last all night and all sorts of movies they were supposed to have saved for that night. Gerard only watched about half of one movie before he turned it off and flopped on his bed, still in his button up shirt and slacks.

As much as he wanted to stay up and continue to be in a bad mood (sometimes it was just fun to be mad), the thunder and lightning was like a lullaby and he was soon completely passed out. 

A flash of super close lightning bolted him out of sleep, and the ensuing thunder was loud enough to shake the house. Gerard sat on the bed and blinked sleepily until he realized he wasn't alone on his bed. Frank was straddling his hips, licking his lips and smiling dangerously down at him. His eyes were completely black, and Gerard couldn't look away when the lightning flashed again and detailed his hungry look.

"Why don't you ward your room against me if you hate me so much? Hmm?" He leaned down, putting his hands against Gerard's shoulders and pinning him to the bed. "Do you want me to come in to your room? To go in to your dreams?" Frank leaned even closer. "Do you want me to hurt you, Gee?" His voice was low and coarse and all Gerard could do was nod. He was fucking terrified but holy shit he had never been so turned on before either. Not even the most racy fantasies had been anything close to this.

Gerard didn't know what to do, still stuck in a panic of terror and sex, when Frank started to grind against him. He was biting his lip, already breathing fast and moaning and all he could think was 'what the actual fuck?!' Desperate to stop him before he did anything else (and before it becomes super obvious that he's very very very turned on by this), he reached up and pressed his hand against Frank's mouth and grabbed his shirt, rolling them over so that Frank was pinned underneath him.

"Will you shut up?!" he whispered desperately, despite the fact that no one else was home. Only when he saw the smirk in Frank's black eyes did he realize that this wasn't really much better and he was still thrusting his hips upward and grinding against him. He could feel his face burning and didn't know what to do again.

Frank licked his hand with a hot tongue and Gerard pulled it away. He laughed, grinning to show off sharp canine teeth. "I knew it! I fucking KNEW it, you do want this! I knew it!" Gerard flushed more, feeling his shoulders get hot and pink under his shirt, and put his hand on the others mouth again. Frank only licked him again and tried to start sucking on his fingers. Not once did he stop moving his hips and practically writhing under him.

All sorts of spells were trying to work their way through his mind- something to banish him to hell or send him away or even just make him shut up. He'd always been told that demons were bad and to never make deals with one without a lawyer present but what the fuck would he do about this!? Before he could pick one and try to stutter out the words, Frank was putting a hand under his shirt and somehow it was lifting further on it's own thanks to his magic. 

Frank still nibbled at Gerard's hand, letting out more moans as he suddenly put his arms over his head and his shirt was gone- revealing tattoos and marks and scars that he couldn't stop staring at and then HOLY HELL his clothes were gone too! Somehow his hand had moved out of the way and he was pressing himself against Frank and fuck he was hot, literally, and he tasted like smoke; why why WHY hadn't he done this before? Both of them moving now, grinding and trying to find something to rub against. Gerard let out a sudden gasp and unexpected moan when he felt a hot hand wrap around his dick. Even in the middle of all this he found a little bit of himself distracted and annoyed at how Frank just laughed at him through a kiss. That laughing stopped when he groped between them and returned the favor, sliding his hand against the others hot skin.

He didn't try to stop Frank when he let go and pushed him over, straddling his hips again. There wasn't a lot he could do to stop him from shifting around and- oh shit was he going to do what he thought he was going to-?!

Gerard was practically seeing stars as Frank slid down on to him. All he could do was moan out "Oh fuck me..." which got another lusty laugh from Frank.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" He pulled Gerard's hands to his hips and he held on like his life depended on it. Frank seemed to know exactly what to do to get him off, and it looked like he was more than enjoying it too.

Gerard held on to him even tighter when he felt himself about to cum. "F-Fuck... FRANK!!" He practically shouted out the others name, bucking upwards as he climaxed. He was left panting and still holding on. Frank didn't last much longer but looked like he had a little more fun being purposefully dramatic, like he was trying to prove to him that 'fuck yeah I finally got my hands on you, what now?'

Frank eventually rolled off and to the side, snuggling up next to him and looking more smug than he had any right to. As Gerard came to his senses he started to feel a little worried, pulling back when Frank tried to nibble at his lips.

"So are you... gonna possess me? Or curse me or something? That's what you do right?"

"Shut up. No, sleep and cuddle and mmm..." He snuggled under Gerard's arm and wrapped his legs around him. Frank's eyes were back to normal and he kept blushing and looking stupidly cute, so he finally just shook his head and relaxed against him. He was just about to fall asleep when he heard Frank mumble, "You're cute when you're pissed."

Gerard tried to huff and complain that he wasn't cute but sleep took him before he could say anything else he passed out, happily wrapped around him.

\--

When he woke up the next morning, Gerard froze, his eyes snapping open. The night before- no that definitely wasn't a dream! He sat up, rubbing his eyes, and his disbelief slowly turned to annoyance and a little bit of anger. Frank was gone, there wasn't even another warm spot on the bed. That fucker!

He huffed and put on his skeleton pajamas and tried not to think about what would happen if Frank didn't come back. He stomped down the stairs and was half way through toasting a poptart when he saw who was sitting at the kitchen table. Frank was eating a bowl of cereal, grinning ear to ear as he sat there in one of Gerard's big shirts and boxers, and Mikey was reading the paper and doing his best not to look at either of them, since it was pretty obvious what had happened the night before.

...what the hell had he gotten himself in to?


	12. Chapter 12

Gerard didn't know how they made it through the next week of classes without getting caught. Frank was always dragging him in to an empty classroom to make out, or in to that weird bathroom no one used for a hand job, or in to the choir balcony to see if he could make Gerard's moans echo. It was definitely okay with him but after his teachers started to make notes of his tardies and lates, he decided to ask Frank to cool it a little.

"But Geraaaaaaaard," he whined. "It's so much fun to fornicate in a church."

"Yeah but maybe we can wait til Thanksgiving break? We'll have an entire week and we can hang out at home..." Frank pouted even more. "...or we can sneak back in here?"

His expression brightened at the second idea. "Yes, we will, we'll sneak in here and I will give you a blowjob under the alter." His eyes darkened a little and he grinned, and was gone before Gerard could recover from shock. He was back soon enough though, joining him after their last class and following him home. 

"Why don't you just teleport me home? You can do that right?"

"That's lame. It's more fun to walk."

"Well why haven't you shown me where you live?" Gerard looked at Frank and tilted his head a little.

"You haven't asked. Do you want to?"

"I mean... if you want to show me."

"Fuck yeah!" He suddenly jumped on to Gerard's back, nearly knocking him down. The world suddenly shifted around them and he fell to the ground and nearly knocked his head on a big rock.

"Frank what the hell..." He shoved Frank away and sat up. That wasn't exactly pleasant... maybe he didn't want him to teleport him home after all...

"We're almost there, come on!" He pulled Gerard to his feet and only then did he realize where they were.

"A cemetery? Really?" The rock he had almost busted his head open on wasn't a rock, it was a gravestone. Frank held his hand and kept pulling him through the quiet plots. No one objected when they slowed down and Frank still held on to his hand tightly. They were standing in front of a small shack. If it weren't for the little window and tiny porch Gerard would have thought it was a garden shack.

"What is this?"

"It's where I live. The caretaker hasn't been around- pretty sure he's dead, I haven't bothered to ask around- and I like graveyards so I figure what's mowing the lawn now and then?" He opened the door and shoved Gerard in to a single room house that was pretty much all taken up by a large bed with messy blankets. He sniffed, and realized that the small room smelled like how Frank tasted, smoky and rich. It made his mouth water a little bit, but he tried to hide it until he was pushed playfully down on to the mattress.

"Don't you want to help me break this bed in?"

\--  
Gerard was woken up at nearly four in the morning, according to his alarm clock, with Frank bouncing up and down on the bed. "Come on wake up, wake up!"

"Why..."

"Because!" Frank pushed the covers out of the way and wrapped himself around Gerard. "I made a promise, didn't I?"

"Huh?" He blinked and tried to push Frank away but there was no breaking his tight hold.

Frank giggled in to his ear. "It's the first day of Thanksgiving break~"

\--

Ray watched from the attendance office and Mikey, Frank, and Gerard all showed up at school together at the same time, the first day back from Thanksgiving break. He never talked about it much, but he remembered the stories Mikey told him about Frank. That supposedly he was a demon, or somehow was getting himself involved with Gerard. That all three of them were somehow magical but went to, of all places, a Catholic school.

Even if he did believe all this, and he wouldn't say if he did or didn't, it was all just a little.... far fetched. To put it simply. He was super aware of one thing though- something had happened between Frank and Gerard. He wasn't one to bring up stuff like this on his own though. He had a few classes with Mikey, but it wasn't until lunch that they sat down to talk.

Mikey looked at his thermos of coffee and frowned, winkling his nose. "If you only knew what I had to go through this week. I should have stayed at your place."

"What happened?"

"Gerard and Frank can't keep their hands off each other," he said, frowning in to his coffee. "It's like. Ugh can you make it anymore obvious? Gross."

"But I thought you said you didn't-"

"I don't care! But I don't want to watch Gerard walk all over the house all smug because he finally fucked his demon boyfriend!" Mikey let himself get a little irate over this, and loud. A few people from tables close by turned with odd looks and Mike hunkered down in his chair, folding his arms in front of his chest. "It's lame."

Ray only nodded. He was an only child so he couldn't really say much about the matter, but he could understand being caught in the middle of a TMI zone.

"You don't care if I sleep over at your place do you?"

He shook his head. "You can stay over any time."

Mikey slumped down in his chair but looked a little relieved. "Thanks."

Ray only nodded again, thankful that Mikey didn't expect him to talk more. Even if he didn't exactly know what was going on this made for some pretty fantastic gossip.

\--

Gerard sat in English class and looked down at his copy of The Great Gatsby. It was actually IN his backpack. How had that happen? He frowned slightly and looked at Frank. He only winked and scooted his desk a little closer, and he couldn't stop a blush from rising to his cheeks. He leaned over his book and tried to concentrate, but it was hard to when there was suddenly a wadded up piece of paper thrown on his desk.

He unfolded it and smoothed it out.

"Can I spend the night?" it said in Frank's messy handwriting. There was a kitty cat happy face under it that was apparently meowing 'please?'

Gerard got out his pencil and wrote "Apparently I can't stop you, dumbass" but with a winking smiley face to show that he wasn't actually mad. Besides, it wasn't like Frank was spending nights away. If he wasn't there actually with him, he showed up as soon as Gerard fell asleep, interrupting whatever he was dreaming about and promptly stripping him naked. Shaking his head, and still blushing, he wadded it up and tossed it back under the desk. Watching Frank out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but smile when Frank grinned and put the paper in his bag. The rest of the day went pretty fast, though Gerard was fending off Frank in the halls between classes.

"Seriously," he hissed, "you can't be hanging off me all day. I'm already messed with enough as it is, that would just make it worse. Besides, if people found out what we did in the cathedral..."

Frank pouted but right before they went in to their last class jumped up on his toes and kissed him on the cheek. Gerard didn't have time to respond and only blushed before sitting down. Jerk...

He had to fend Frank off after they got out of class too, at least until they got far enough away from school for people to not see them. As soon as Gerard rolled his eyes and nodded, Frank was wiggling under his arm and walking with his arms around him.

"For a demon you're a pretty big softy..."

"Shut up. Do you know how hard it is to get cuddles in hell?"

"Yeah yeah..." He didn't bother trying to push him away. It was cold, and little snowflakes were starting to fall. They'd had a bit of snow already, and now it was only going to get worse. At least he had his super warm boyfriend clinging to him like a portable heater.

When they got back to his place, Mikey was no where to be found. It seemed like he had developed a sense of whenever Frank and Gerard were going to be all handsy and found a way to get out of the house. Not that they were going to argue, it was bad enough that one time he stood in the tiny closet with the water heater just so he could bang on the ceiling while they were in bed. But while Mikey wasn't there, there was something else- a big-ass crow sitting on the back of a kitchen chair.

"Oooh a messenger bird!" Frank ran forward and tried to pet it but only got pecked on the hand. "Ow!"

"Messenger bird?" Gerard looked at it closely, and there was a little pouch tied to the crow's leg, with a crudely stitched dollar sign. "Oh right." He dug in to his pocket for some change and showed it to the bird. It peered at it critically before letting him drop the coins in the bag. Once he did so, the crow opened it's mouth and he heard a familiar voice.

"Gerard! Michael! I've got excellent news!" Elena's boistrous words echoed through the kitchen. "Things have finally slowed down and I'll be home for Christmas! I'll get to spend more time at home than I have in a while and I can't wait to see you. I'll finally have those dragon scales I promised, and presents for everyone. So get the house ready! And if I find anything other than a spotless home I won't make your favorite pancakes. So be good! I'll be home soon." There was the sound of a pair of dramatic kisses (mwah! mwah!) and the message ended with the clack of the crow snapping it's beak shut.

"Who was that?" Frank held out his arm for the bird and it hopped on, accepting his help to the door so it could fly off to it's next destination.

"Only the coolest grandma in the world." He was so cheered up he didn't even know how to tell him. "She hasn't been home since school started, not so we could see her. She brings the best stuff home." He dug through the fridge for a snack and set up a fresh pot of coffee, telling Frank about different stories she had told him about her work, and what she had brought back.

"A croquet mallet?"

"Yeah it's super cool." Gerard ran upstairs and brought it back. He hadn't used it much since he got it, and was a little reluctant to let Frank touch it. Not only was it HIS, but he was still a little worried about Frank's darker side coming out if he had an object of such power.

Frank hefted it in his hands and looked at it. "I am the master of the wicket," he said quietly. Gerard thought nothing would happen when suddenly there was a loud yellow flash and the mallet flew out of his hands and straight towards his face. He held his hands up to shield himself and found the mallet back in his hands safely, and Frank lying on the kitchen floor. It looked like he was smoking a little bit too.

"Guess... it's just meant for you to use," he said weakly.

Gerard hurried over. "Are you ok? Fuck, that didn't hurt you did it?"

He brushed it off abd winced as he sat up. "No, I'm fine. For the most part. But you can keep that, holy shit. I do not want it."

"Well you're not going to get it anyway." Gerard helped him to his feet and they went up to his room, where he put the mallet up. Frank was still looking at it funny though.

"Have you ever seen Sailor Moon?"

"What? That lame girly show? Why would I watch that when I have twenty years worth of zombie movies on DVD?"

"Well you are in for a treat." Frank did his stupid disappearing act and showed up with a duffel back a few minutes later. "I hope you have a tape player."


	13. Chapter 13

They only made it through one video tape of 90's anime before Gerard couldn't take it anymore. They're time was either spent close enough to touch, but not able to because of the fact that they were at school, or going at it so fast and hard that he hardly had time to realize what was going on until they were almost done. As weird as it would probably sound, he just wanted to take things slow for once. When Frank went to rewind the tape and put in a new one, Gerard shifted a little, pushing the nest of blankets aside so that he could sit a little closer.

"Where did you even get all these? Why do you have them?" he asked, enjoying the view of Frank's tight little butt wiggling in the air as he messed with the tapes. There had to be at least twenty VHS cassettes in the large duffel bag. Most of them looked old, and had actual movie titles scribbled out in sharpie.

"So... well. Once I made someone mad and got banished from hell-"

"Wait wait wait. You did something so bad they kicked you OUT of hell?" Gerard laughed and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter what I did!" Frank looked back and glared, blushing. Obviously it was a tender subject. He'd have to ask about it another time. "Anyway!! I was stuck on earth for a few years in the nineties. Bob knew someone who I could stay with-"

"Who's Bob?"

Frank sighed dramatically. "Let me tell you one thing at a time! Bob knew someone I could stay with for a while and they had a little girl that was fuckin' OBSESSED with Sailor Moon and Cardcaptors and all that shit." He took the tape out of the player once it was rewound and put in another. "I was also kind of being watched? So there wasn't much to do but stay home and watch cartoons with a four year old so..."

Gerard was hiding his grin with a section of blankets pulled over his face but he knew Frank could probably see the smile in his eyes anyway. "You have to tell me what you did." When Frank only glared, getting actually angry, he put his hands out and shook his head. "Eventually."

"We'll see." He climbed back on the bed and took advantage of the spot Gerard had cleared for him. They were still in their uniforms from school, though a little dressed down. Button-up shirts had been unbuttoned and thrown aside, and they were hanging out in just their slacks and undershirts. The theme song was just starting to play when Frank was already trying to sit in Gerard's lap and wiggle his hands down the front of he pants.

It was an obvious change when Gerard pushed him away slightly. Frank backed away but still looked a little pouty. Since they had started the whole 'physical relationship' thing, he hadn't been turned down so blatantly before.

"Can't we just... go a little slower this time?" Gerard felt himself blush as he continued. "You've probably had all kinds of- of practice and just want to do stuff but..." He bit his lip.

Frank went from pouting to curious, and his head tilted a little. "But what?"

"I've never had a boyfriend before. Or a girlfriend," he added quickly. He pulled the covers up to his chest and looked away. Frank certainly hadn't denied having however many years of practice, and that didn't make Gerard want to ask. Come to think of it, he wasn't even exactly sure how old Frank was at all-

He was caught a little off guard when Frank cupped his cheek gently and made him look up. He didn't look annoyed or hurt that he asked him to slow down, but he did maybe look a little guilty. Before Gerard could apologize for making him feel like that, he leaned forward and kissed him softly.

"Sorry... we can go slow this time." Frank scooted over so that he was sitting right next to him, with one arm around Gerard's waist. After a few seconds of awkward positioning (Frank was just so short), they were finally comfortable.

Gerard closed his eyes and sighed happily. He didn't mind this, not at all. Frank was pleasantly warm, and so were his lips. Getting to really feel and taste Frank was something he hadn't gotten to do yet. It was like the difference between chugging hot coffee and burning your throat just to wake yourself up, and sitting down to drink it slow and really be able to enjoy it. This time it was his turn to push Frank's shirt up a little, letting his fingers get caught on scars and tattoos he could see through the thin fabric of his undershirt.

The first thing he focused on was on Frank's lower stomach- the word "And" in elaborate script, supported by two swooping dead swallows. He traced it with his fingers and laughed when Frank tried to wiggle away.

"What's this one?" Frank rolled around a little and showed him the other parts of the phrase. "'Search and Destroy'?"

"It's the motto for my faction. Like, the group of demons that I'm a part of. All of us have it tattooed somewhere. Most factions have a saying and a lot have it on them somewhere, though it's usually hidden."

Gerard found himself shivering a little, even while he was so close to Frank's warm body. 'Search and Destroy'? Search and destroy what? For the first time in a while he was reminded how foreign he really was. He didn't really want to ask...

Frank didn't object when he slid his shirt up a little more. There wasn't much else to see, other than four pale scars that would have made an almost perfect square around his ribs if they were connected. Gerard touched them carefully. "How'd you get these?"

"Oh. Well. I kind of maybe got on Cerberus' left head's bad side. You don't really get off easy getting tossed around like a chew toy." He seemed happy enough to laugh it off but again Gerard was quietly mortified. Frank looked like he was waiting for more questions about his tattoos, and finally he obliged.

"Do you have any more?"

"Yes! But, I can't show you them."

"What? Why not? It's not like there's a part of you I haven't seen yet." He started mumbling half way through, still kind of shocked he said that.

"No it's just, I had to hide them to keep from being called out. You can't exactly have visible tattoos pretending to be a 17 year old Catholic school boy."

"How'd you hide them?" Gerard noticed that he seemed to be touching the side of his neck, and when he peered closer, he saw a shimmer of magic that wouldn't normally be visible. "Illusion spells?"

"Yeah but man I fuckin' SUCK at illusions. It took me a week to cover everything else up. I'm not going to skip school til I can get those covered up again."

"Let me do it." Gerard scooted a little closer. Without realizing it, he had gotten a little eager. "Illusion spells are easy. Here hold still." He put both his hands on Frank's sparrows and concentrated, whispering the words needed to complete the spell. In just a matter of seconds, the tattoos appeared to be completely gone, showing just smooth skin.

"Oh wow..." Frank was genuinely impressed (and a little turned on at the thought of the other using magic on him) and finally nodded. "Okay here." He rubbed the right side of his neck to reveal a small scorpion just under his jaw. There was a set of stars on his left arm and an anchor on his right, and the word "Halloween" across the first joint of his fingers.

"Those are so cool... I'd never be able to get a tattoo though. I hate needles, ugh." Gerard held Frank's hands to his cheeks, squishing his face in the warm hands.

"What about a magic tattoo?"

He made a noncommittal noise and Frank only laughed. "Don't worry about it. Now could you hide these please?"

Gerard nodded and put the illusion spells back on all of Frank's tattoos, sealing them with a soft kiss. He knew it wasn't necessary but it was fun and Frank didn't stop him, and also had the benefit of turning back in to a slow, lazy make-out session. By the time the ignored tape of Sailor Moon ended and started to rewind on it's own, Gerard was surprised to see that instead of escalating in to sex, Frank had just passed the fuck out. While asleep he looked... different. Not in a bad way just. More innocent than his normal trouble-causing self.

He reached up and touched Frank's lips softly. He wasn't sure if it was just because he was hot-natured, or if it was a sign of being a demon, but everything about Frank was warm. There was a little indent under the left side of his lip, from a lip ring, he guessed. Facial piercings weren't allowed at the school so he probably took it out when he transferred in.

As much as he wanted to just look at Frank, really LOOK at him, the warmth he was stealing and the cold gray clouds outside that sputtered snow were putting him to sleep. He pulled Frank down in to the blankets and curled up next to him, and was asleep soon after.


	14. Chapter 14

The closer it got to Christmas, the more Gerard was getting antsy. He would hardly sit still in class, and at home he paced and found things to start and then abandon almost right away. Mikey only looked at him sympathetically but it was clear it was driving Frank crazy. After the third time he went outside to scoop up some snow for some sort of weird potion that he never got past the third step creating, Frank stepped in front of the door and held his arms out.

"Gerard! What the fuck! Is your problem!"

"Come on I just need-"

"Gee, if you needed it that bad, you wouldn't have let the snow melt twice already. What's your problem?" Frank looked like an angry mix of confused and worried.

"I don't want to sit still." He pulled his lanky hair in to a ponytail with his hands and then let it fall back down in front of his face. "I don't know, I don't have a problem. Just- let me out."

Frank was about to protest again until Mikey appeared in the middle of the entry way. He just shook his head at Frank and sort of tilted his head towards the stairs that led to his basement room.

"Whatever man. At least put shoes on this time." Frank stepped out of the way, and once he was sure Gerard actually did put shoes on he followed Mikey down in to the basement.

"Try not to let it get to you too much." Mikey shook his head a little and grabbed a knit beanie off a pile of mostly clean clothes. He sighed and put it on, pushing his glasses up a little.

"What's even going on? He's acting like something bad is going to happen." He frowned. "You guys aren't seers are you? He doesn't actually-"

"No, god no." Mikey laughed and flopped down on the couch. The basement had been styled like a weird mix of bedroom and living room, with a couch entertainment center taking up half the room, and a bed taking up the remaining space. "There haven't been seers in our family since the 20's."

Frank sat down on the other side of the couch and frowned. "That doesn't really tell me anything." He pulled his feet up and wrapped his arms around his knees.

"Sorry. So. You know that our grandmother is coming home soon right?" Frank nodded. "She's basically raised us for almost as long as we can remember. Our parents..." He looked a little bleak. "Yeah. So she's not home a lot. I'm sure Gerard's told her what she does."

"Yeah. What, is he worried she isn't going to come home?"

"Pretty much. The last couple times she said she was coming home, something happened. She had to back out, go do another job or some kind of unexpected thing happened. She usually doesn't tell us when she's coming home now, in case things fuck up. Gerard likes that better, I think."

Frank frowned again. "So now that she said for sure she's showing up next week, he's freaking out because he's just worried it's a set up for a broken promise."

Mikey looked impressed, pulling his beanie down a little over his hears. "You hit the nail on the head. There's not really anything I can do about it, other than try to help him get through midterms without freaking out and then hope that she shows up..." He sighed. Frank never really had family, and couldn't empathize completely, but he knew that Mikey would be hurt too if their grandmother didn't show.

"I can help him with that. I don't want him kicked out of school, he needs to stick around so I have an excuse to keep causing shit at a Catholic school."

That only got him a funny look from Mikey, and a shake of the head. "Whatever man. Basically, don't say anything about Elena and maybe try to help him study. Your finals are on Wednesday and Thursday right?"

"Yeah. We get a couple days off and you basically want me to keep him sane." Frank bit his lip, feeling that there was something that was just said that was familiar, but he wasn't sure how.

"I'd appreciate it, though good luck. He's already half crazy already."

Frank rolled his eyes and went back upstairs. Gerard was standing at the kitchen table, still in his ugly snow boots and pajama pants and oversized sweatshirt, staring at a bowl full of snow.

"So what are you trying to make?"

"Huh?" He looked up with a distracted, vacant look on his face. Mikey was right. Whatever he was doing, it was to keep him from thinking about the possibility of his grandmother not showing up.

"What do you need help making?" Frank didn't remember realizing he wanted to help, but kind of shrugged mentally.

"It's a memory potion." He had the grace to look a little guilty as he continued. "For helping with finals. Not these, maybe spring ones." He looked down at the bowl of snow, that was sitting in a small puddle of melted water. "Maybe I should have the recipe out..."

The rest of the afternoon was spent getting this potion together. It was supposed to make your memory super retentive, to help remember things. Mostly seers used it, if they knew they were going to have a vision or in the middle of one, Gerard told him.

Frank never was one for potions or spells. If he needed magic, he made it himself, but there was something different when someone used the spells and words, symbols and ingredients, to make something happen. It didn't hurt that Gerard's eyes flashed a faint gold, making Frank get in the way and stare at him whenever he thought he might enchant something.

By the time they were done, Gerard was pouring their potion in to an empty glass flask. It moved and shone like mercury and Frank couldn't stop tilting it back and forth. "That's so cool."

"Yeah well I've heard it tasted like shit." He smiled a little and looked like he was a little bit out of his funk, at least for the time being. "Let's go put it with the others."

"Others?" Frank followed on Gerard's heels up to his bedroom. Instead of there being a bunch of dirty laundry (or porn), there was a stolen dresser drawer. When he pulled it out, it was filled with potions. The bottles ranged from tiny vials that could hardly hold more than a couple drops, to giant liter wine bottles. All of them were glass, and there were a few that Frank knew would hurt him if he even touched the outside. He inched away a little bit, but still watched as Gee moved things around and finally stuck it in a place it would fit.

"Do you just do this in your spare time?"

"Yeah pretty much. I had a few that would have fucked you up til next Tuesday but..." He made a little bit of a wry grimace. "Elena made me pour them out. There's still a spot in the backyard that won't grow anything and that was like two years ago."

Frank tilted his head a little. There was that name again. He had heard it before, somewhere...

"What's it like to possess someone?"

"Huh?" This time it was Frank's turn to look confused. It was a complete change of subject, and since they had met, Gerard had absolutely refused to ask him to elaborate on anything that had to do with his demonic nature.

"What's it like? To go out and possess someone?"

"That was never really my area of expertise." He tried to think back to the last time that happened. It had been... what fifty odd years ago? He had been hit with something that almost banished him, but didn't work all the way. It left him incorporeal and he had to find something to stay in til he could manifest a body again. "Mostly it felt like trying to wear clothes that are way too small, and those clothes try to get even smaller to make you take them off."

Gerard looked thoughtful and then pushed the drawer of potions back under his bed.

"Why do you ask? Wanna try it out?" Frank smirked, and let his eyes go black. He knew that Gerard found that both sexy and terrifying, so he tried not to do that more often. He liked to see that look of conflict on the others face.

"N-no, no please no." Gerard tried to play it off like he was joking, but it sounded a little too insistent to be totally playful.

"No worries. I promise that I'll never do that unless your life depends on it or you say it's alright." Frank kind of suddenly regret putting that in to words, even though it made Gee calm down a little. He made a promise- a stupid fucking demon promise, that meant he couldn't go back on it. It was a contract and goddamn now that he said he wouldn't he really wanted to.


	15. Chapter 15

Frank shared most of his classes with Gerard, and they were able to study together. Most of their midterms went alright, though Gerard was more than a little freaked out about the one class he didn't share.

"So your art final is like. A big deal right?" Frank was sitting in the choir balcony with him, and for once they weren't just up there to mess around. They had finished their last written test but Gerard had to stay for one more final.

"Of course it's a big deal. It's like the only thing I can do without magic." He had a large folder on his lap; he kept glancing down and frowning at it. "I mean. I could do it with magic. Spelled canvas or enchanted paints or whatever. I just. I don't want to and I CAN do it without that."

"Then what IS the big deal?" Frank tilted his head.

"What if it's not good enough without magic?" Gerard looked over and didn't know how much longer he could take waiting around to turn in his work. "What if-"

Before he could doubt himself any more, Frank used his supernatural speed to press his lips to Gerard's. "No, shut up," he breathed out when they finally pulled apart. "No what if. Now go turn that stupid thing in before I do it for you."

He grumbled and complained but finally assented. They walked down to the art classroom and Gerard put the folder in a slot with his name on it, and they walked out.

"See? Was that so hard?" Frank smirked, and Gerard rolled his eyes. "Come on, it's officially Christmas now. I'll poof us home and we can try out that one potion you fucked up that actually-"

Gerard felt a blush suddenly rise to his cheeks. "NO! No not that one! Just- Jesus, Frank just take me home."

He was still laughing when they snuck in to a janitor's closet and he wrapped himself around Gerard. He INSISTED that was the only way he could teleport someone but it wasn't like anyone was going to complain. Instead of a cold, wet, soggy walk home through what felt like four feet of snow, they appeared in the middle of Gerard's room.

"Perfect as usual." Frank climbed off of Gerard and dusted off his jacket like he had actually done work. "Now where were we?"

Gerard got in to his newly cleaned skeleton pajamas and settled in to the covers. "I think it was tape 16 of Sailor Moon. I can't believe you made me watch this with you."

"Shut up you have a crush on Tuxedo Mask." Frank had a small pile of clothes that were his, and he picked out some sweatpants and a hoodie. Somehow both managed to look two sizes too big and make him look even smaller than he already was. Gerard made fun of him for it, but he couldn't help but admit to himself that he thought it was cute. Once he was in his pajamas he hopped in bed and wiggled in.

After the stress of two days of finals, turning in his portfolio, and a constant worry that his hope for Elena showing up was going to be unfounded, Gerard fell asleep almost right away, even though it was just two in the afternoon. He wasn't sure what time it was when he woke up, pressed up against Frank. Late enough that he knew he had probably fucked up his sleeping schedule for a few days, since he didn't really feel tired. The television was off but he could still see- the low gray snow clouds and white drifts outside reflected enough light.

"Hey..."

"Hmm?" Frank opened his eyes. He wasn't sure if he had been asleep or was just resting.

"You said you'd do it if you asked right?"

"Do what?"

Gerard closed his eyes and put his head on Frank's shoulder. "You know... like. Possess me."

"I don't think you want that."

"What? Why not? I trust you..."

Frank shook his head. "Go back to sleep. We can talk about it later."

He grumbled and muttered under his breath, and turned so his back was to Frank. It wasn't like he had any reason NOT to trust him. Once they broke that sort of physical barrier two months ago (how had it only been two months?) they hadn't had anything more than stupid arguments. No real fights, and some lame pranks. Nothing that would make him ever feel like he couldn't trust Frank with his body. Maybe it was something else? Would it hurt, or was Frank worried about his chances of an afterlife? He scoffed and felt Frank scoot a little closer. If he was so worried he wouldn't be there anyway.

But he had been thinking about it for a while. How it would feel to be so connected, utterly overwhelmed by Frank's presence. What it would be like to not be in control of himself, literally, and Frank had access to... well to everything? He didn't know how to tell him that he wanted to be in that position, and he was bad at words. He probably never would.

After debating for a few minutes and still feeling like he was in the dark, he tried to go back to sleep. He knew Frank could tell when he was awake or not.

\--

The anxiety that Gerard had put off with Frank's help came back with a vengeance the next day. It was 19th. Her message had said that she would be home by Christmas- six days away.

He woke up with Frank's face pressed in to his armpit. He snored softly; probably because it looked like his nose was twisted sideways with how weirdly he was lying. Gerard tried to close his eyes and relax, but he couldn't ignore a large knot of worry in his chest. What if Elena didn't make it? What if she had to be stuck somewhere again? What if something had happened? What if-

His worry was stopped when Frank yawned and held on to him tighter. "Morn'," he mumbled. "Nooo."

"Frank we don't have school, stupid."

There were a few incoherent words before he let go and sat up. Gerard only watched him, feeling restless and worried but not sure how to express himself.

"You gonna tell me what you got me for Christmas yet?"

"You're a demon. You don't get to celebrate Christmas." He smiled, surprising himself. "That doesn't mean I didn't get you some conveniently timed gifts." The slight good feeling of making a little joke at Frank's expense didn't last very long. Gerard curled up under the blankets and hid his face when the other got out of bed and stretched.

"Come on let's go get something to eat." Frank's voice was slightly muffled from outside the covers and Gerard only shook his head.

"Not hungry."

There was silence for a few seconds, and he felt Frank sit back down on the bed. "She'll be here."

"But what if she's not."

"Then you have some sort of people finding spell or some shit, right? You go out and find her and kick whatever's ass is keeping her from visiting you bring your home."

Gerard peeked out of the covers. "Would it be that easy?"

"Sure if I went with you. I'm kind of a verified ass-kicker." Frank smirked, and he wasn't sure how he had ever hated that face. "I'll be downstairs. Mikey wanted to make snow tunnels or something and I might go help."

Frank bounced off the bed and left, leaving it up to Gerard to actually get out of bed. It took him a while to find the motivation, but eventually he got out of bed and made his way downstairs. Mikey had outdone himself and made them chocolate chip pancakes and breakfast milkshakes, and they had saved enough for Gerard. He looked over at the hall to the living room, another room that they hardly used. He had been against it, but Mikey went and set up a tree, enchanting little sparks of light to nestle in it and putting gifts in little sections for each person. The biggest pile of boxes was for Mikey, then Gerard. Even Frank had a couple things with his name on them, and there were a few small boxes for Elena.

Eventually, once Frank and Mikey were satisfied he wasn't going to go back upstairs and wallow in his own misery, they headed outside with shovels and a box of runes. What for they wouldn't say and Gerard didn't want to know. He took the opportunity to go upstairs and put on real clothes- REAL CLOTHES, not a school uniform or pajamas. Jeans and a t-shirt and SOCKS. For once they were all clean, too. Everyone (including Frank, though he had to be bribed) was keeping the house extra clean, waiting for Elena to come home.

Gerard was thinking about going outside to join them, or at least supervise, when he heard a familiar pinging chime from on top of his dresser. It took him a moment to realize what it was, and then he ran to grab the hand mirror he used to talk to his grandmother.

"Hello?" He held it up, and quickly turned so that a wall was behind him and not his dirty room.

"Gerard!" His face lit up when he heard her voice. "I'm in a hurry to catch a flight, so I just wanted to let you know I should be in by the day after tomorrow."

"What? You mean it?" She must have been using a compact or small mirror, all he saw was a small image that moved quickly. A flash of her eye, a quick pan to over her other shoulder, back to her eyebrow.

"Of course I do. I don't want you to worry. I know you always do." He felt a suddenly hollow of guilt in his chest. He always thought he hid how things were if she didn't make it- "It's probably going to be late. Don't wait up for me." There was a sound of people talking interrupted by a fuzzy voice over a loudspeaker. "I love you Gerard, I'll be home soon!" Without any warning, the mirror went blank and then he was left looking at his own reflection.

He putt he mirror down on the dresser again and bit his lip. That made him feel better but also even more anxious. It was different when a promise was a few weeks old and had time to settle down and feel less like a lie, but now... 

Frank had a way of making him forget about it, no matter if it was with sex, or making him laugh, or doing something stupid or scary that made him yell. He put on some shoes and a coat and like five scarves and went out to the back porch to see where everyone was. There was a suspiciously welcoming tunnel in to the snow, that was piling up against the house and porch. He peered down and could see that there was some sort of light from around the corner. After a moment of inspection (and seeing that the runes they had carried out were pressed in to the snow, keeping it solid and safe to hang out in) he finally rolled his eyes and went inside.

"Mikey? Frank?" He had to bend down a little, hunched down to keep from hitting his head. How the fuck did they do this in like half an hour?? "Where are you guys?"

He found one of Mikey's light spells hanging in the air. There was a crossroads and the tunnel split in to three. "Guys?" He took the left most tunnel and it got even smaller. He was on his hands and knees and wishing he brought gloves. "Fuck, Frank, you know that if it's small for you it'll be small for everyone else," he mumbled, sure that the short demon had dug this particular section. He was still engrossed in his grumbling and didn't realize that he had reached another bit of a crossroad until he was blindsided by someone shoving him in to what he thought was another tunnel at first.

"What the fuck?!" It wasn't until he got his bearings that he saw that it was Frank that had shoved him, and they weren't in another tunnel, they were in a surprisingly round room. A single glow light was floating around, disturbed by the sudden activity.

"HA! I knew I would get you." Frank sat triumphantly on Gerard's stomach. "Mikey owes me a new hat."

"So you were betting who would give me internal bruises first?" He pushed Frank to the side and laughed a little. The glow light finally stopped moving, and hovered directly behind Gerard. It was pleasantly warm; he didn't think they were supposed to be hot at all though.

"Maybe."

"What would he have gotten if you lost?"

"A souvenir from hell, probably. He's stupidly obsessed with that."

They both laughed this time, and then Gerard frowned when he saw that the lights moved when he shook his head. Stupid light.

"Are you going to go home yet?"

"Why should I? It's not like it's very comfortable. Tiny room, stupid bed, no heat-"

"No I meant- I meant like. HOME home." Gerard bit his lip, looking uncomfortable and not wanting to say what he was really asking. It took Frank a few moments to understand what he meant, and he only shrugged.

"Beats me. It's not like there's a time limit for me hanging around here." This time it was Frank's turn to frown. "Do you smell that?" He sniffed a few times.

"Huh?" Gerard finally caught a whiff of something that smelled bitter and reminded him suddenly of a failed spell.

"SHIT! Your hair!!" Frank didn't give any warning as he suddenly pushed Gerard around and pulled on his head with a sharp tug. He held the smoldering light in his hand before closing his fist around it, causing it to go out. He winced at Gerard and kind of reached out to touch him but then pulled back. "I don't think there's any hope."

He reached back to feel that most of the hair on the back of his hair had been singed and burnt thanks to the malfunctioning spell and he pulled back his hand with a look of horror when he felt a few brittle strands break off.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" Gerard crawled as fast as he could out of the snow tunnels, ignoring Frank and Mikey's protests, and back inside. He was out of breath when he got to the bathroom mirror. His hair... it was ruined... 

It took an hour of Mikey bargaining through the door to convince him to come out. Frank was waiting with him and they both winced. By that time Gerard had pulled and brushed out all the broken and burnt strands and it was clear he was in need of a new haircut, and fast.

"I'll do it."

The brothers looked at Frank with almost the same expression. "What? No! What if you fuck it up?! What if the only way you can fix it is to shave my head!?!"

Frank looked at him flatly. "Look due to obvious reasons, I don't let anyone near my head with sharp objects. I cut my own hair. Let me fix it."

"But what if-" Gerard was suddenly stopped when Frank leaned in close, whispering something for only him to hear.

"If you don't trust me with this, how do I know you really trust me to possess you?"

That shut him up faster than he was willing to admit, and he only nodded once. "Fine."

Mikey frowned at them and it was clear he was missing something, but Gerard wasn't going to be the one to fill him in. He let Frank sit him down on a step-stool and put a towel around his shoulders in the biggest bathroom they had in the house and looked at him thoughtfully with a pair of scissors in hand.

Gerard only closed his eyes. He didn't want to open them til it was over.


	16. Chapter 16

Frank maybe lied a little bit when he said he cut his own hair. It wasn't that hard to use a clipper with a guard on it to keep the sides and back trimmed, maybe keep his little not-mohawk in the right shape with a few snips every couple weeks. Wrangling Gerard's burnt hair might be a little different.

It wasn't so hard to get the back to look right. That was easy enough. He was glad Gerard kept his eyes clenched shut the whole time though. Frank wasn't sure if he would have been able to keep himself concentrated on the task at hand if he'd been stared at. He was half way through dealing with the front, thinning out the front, when he spoke up.

"Gee. Why do you want me to possess you."

Snip snip snip. He fiddled with the towel around his shoulders, still keeping his eyes shut. Frank recognized it as Gerard's 'I want sex but I'm too shy to ask for it still' wiggle. When Gee took a breath to answer, he interrupted.

"'Just because' isn't good enough." He took a sharp breath and winced, and was REALLY glad Gerard's eyes were shut. He hurried to fix what he could, mumbling curses.

"I wasn't gonna say that..." The pouting look on Gerard's face made it clear that he was lying.

"Hmph." Frank continued cutting. It was the best he could do with a pair of regular scissors but damn if this wasn't going to be hot as fuck when he was done.

He was almost finished, brushing his fingers through Gerard's hair (that he made him wash for the first time in how long?) and sweeping it aside, maybe having a little too much fun. Gee was leaning in to Frank's hands when he finally spoke.

"I want you..." Gerard bit his lip and looked up at Frank. "I want you inside me- inside my head," he added quickly, blushing and looking down a little. He expected his hair to hide his face but it didn't any more, not to the degree he wanted. Frank gripped at his hair a little more; he could FEEL his blush heating his skin. "I trust you and I just..." He shuddered and hid his face against Frank's shirt.

Frank pulled the towel off Gerard's shoulders and shook it off. "You should take a shower."

"But-! I just!"

"Wash the hair I cut off, stupid. Besides, maybe after I sweep this up I'll join you." He gave Gerard one of his smirks and that blush came back. All he did was nod. Once he was sure Gerard was actually going to get IN the shower, he went to find a broom and dustpan, or vacuum. Frank had been on the business end of one of Gerard's rants about how shampoo was basically evil for hair and all that but it wouldn't kill him to wash it every once in a while.

It took a few minutes for him to finally sweep up and soon enough he was finally able to go in the steamy bathroom without hair sticking to his feet. Gross. Gerard peeked out of the shower curtain, pouting. "You took forever."

"You have a lot of hair," Frank quipped back,

"I HAD a lot of hair..."

"Oh please, you look better like this anyway." His voice was muffled as he pulled his shirt over his head. Once he had stripped down (adding in some extra wiggles just for Gerard) he stepped in to the shower and pressed himself against his favorite human. He grinned as he felt Gerard tense up, but didn't let go. After a few moments he stood on his tiptoes and put his chin on Gee's shoulder. "You like your haircut?"

"I haven't seen it yet..." Gerard looked over but Frank moved and put his chin on the other side. He started to turn but Frank stayed clamped on, holding him tightly around the waist. After a moment he went still and did his stupid shy wiggle again. Gerard could probably feel him starting to get hard; when he let his grip around Gee's waist drop, he could tell he wasn't alone.

Gerard let out a low moan as Frank let his hand slide down, further than just a curious grope. He started to stroke and was rewarded with a few more quiet, breathy moans. When Gee pressed back against him he pushed right back. He was soon supporting himself against the tiled wall as Frank sped up a little bit.

He couldn't see it, but from the muffled groan as he came, Gerard was biting his lips again. "Fuck... Frankie..." He leaned back against Frank for just a moment before dropping to his knees.

"Shit, Gerard? Are you ok?" Frank was worried he had maybe out-sexed Gerard. Was that even a thing? He had never stayed with someone so exclusively EVER so he was a little clueless-

His panicking only stopped when Gerard turned around with a bit of a mischievous smile, still on his knees.

"Remember that time under the altar?" He reached up to trace the curls of Frank's tattoos, just above his hips. 

"Fuck yeah I do. But you've never-"

Gerard cut him off with a hair flip, that hardly did anything since his newly cut hair was plastered to his head with hot water. "There's a first time for everything right?" He looked determined (and hot as fuck) as he leaned in closer.

What Gerard lacked in experience he made up with in a good attitude- and to Frank that was better than a fantastic blowjob and Gee being miserable. "Gerard... Holy shit..." He gripped tightly at his short hair and did his best not to just start absolutely facefucking him. Frank growled in frustration as he got closer to coming, wanting to do more than he knew Gee could take.

Frank had to push him away when he finally did come. He heard Gerard's disappointed whine suddenly cut off and when he finally untangled his hands from his hair and looked down he saw why. "Fuck... sorry..."

Gerard was blushing as Frank helped him up, wiping off his cheek. "Thanks for the warning, I guess."

He only laughed and pushed him under the spray of hot water, that had gotten a little more lukewarm after all the time they'd spent in the shower. As they rinsed off and Gerard got some towels for them, Frank couldn't help but start to think just a little bit... Since when did he start caring about humans, even if it was just his newest lover and his small family? He'd spent nearly two months practically living with them, for fuck's sake. Normally he spent a few nights with a human and went on his way, but something about Gerard made him want to stick around for just a little longer.

"Gross you did NOT sweep up all the hair." Gerard complained as he brought him a fluffy towel.

"Hey you were giving me puppy dog eyes from the shower, maybe I was distracted." He dried off his hair the best he could before wrapping the towel around his waist. The steam followed them from the bathroom and in to the hallway, and Gerard was shivering by the time they got to his bedroom. He hurried to get back in his pajamas and cuddle under the blankets.

"Hurry up, asshole, I'm cold."

"Oh so I'm just your personal space heater now?" Frank took a little longer than necessary to find something to wear, settling on boxers and a t-shirt.

"...Maybe."

He rolled his eyes and finally got in to the bed. Gerard had the hood of his pajamas up and he pushed it down, looking at his new cut. His hair was a little curly, still damp, and he kept trying to look down and hide behind it even though it wasn't there. Once dry it would probably sweep just above his eyebrows. Frank was content just to kind of stare at him for a bit until he spoke up.

"Did I. Um. Did I do okay?" His cheeks were pink but he didn't look away.

Frank laughed quietly. He hadn't even thought to say anything one way or the other. "You did fine, Gee. A little more practice and you might be as good as me. Maybe."

He got a little bit of that dorky laugh from Gerard, who suddenly grabbed him and pulled him closer. "Thanks. I don't know if I would be able to make it til Christmas without you here."

"As long as you give me good presents and let me actually breathe I think I'll be fine." Gerard wasn't nearly strong enough to actually hurt him, but he sure had a good grip around him.

"Oh. Sorry."

Frank adjusted himself and put his arm around Gerard. "Sorry about your hair."

"It's fine... It'll grow back."

"I like it better like this."

"That's just because you cut it." Gerard huffed and was trying not to look pleased.

They grumbled and playfully argued- and tried to figure out how to get Mikey back for his faulty light, which is what caused the whole situation- til Gerard started to breathe a little slower, and his answers were a little less quick-witted and more sleep-slurred. This time when he fell asleep, Frank thought to maybe back off from the bed cuddles. Gerard slept a lot, probably too much, when he was around. But a couple more days, until his grandmother got there, wouldn't hurt.


	17. Chapter 17

Gerard wasn't sure why, but he didn't tell anyone about the news he got from Elena. She was going to be there soon anyway, even if she didn't meet the deadline she told him. It would save everyone else the trouble of being as worried and neglected as he did if she didn't show.

He let Frank keep running his hands through his new haircut. He would stop Gerard in the hall, or while he was picking up the kitchen, or trying to read, and just get up on his tiptoes to ruffle his hair. It always seemed to be when he was getting anxious again and he always felt better. It wasn't until they were in Mikey's room, watching a movie with everyone- Ray included- that he realized what was going on.

Frank was sitting on the couch and Gerard was on the floor in front of him. He leaned back against the couch, feeling warm and relaxed as he enjoyed the feel of Frank's hands through his hair when suddenly he was hit with a strange sense of de ja vu... He was... angry? He sat up a little and tried to focus on it. That warm feeling was familiar, and after few moments he realized what it was.

"Frank! Who said you could do that!" He looked back, frowning and hissing his question in a whisper.

Of course he tried go feign innocence. "Do what?"

Gerard looked over at Ray and Mikey, where sharing a bag of popcorn and ignoring them to the point where it was pretty obvious they were purposefully not listening. The movie wasn't THAT good.

"The thing! The..." Gerard grabbed Frank's collar and pulled him down so he could actually whisper in his ear. He didn't think Ray knew anything, so better safe than sorry. "The magic thing! With my emotions!"

"I said I wouldn't possess you without asking. That didn't mean I wouldn't calm you down when you'd be freaking the fuck out without my help."

Gerard made an unhappy face and flopped back against the couch again. "Fine. But I don't have to like it."

"Yes you do moron, that's what it's supposed to do."

"Hmph." He tried to pout but between Frank's hands and the relaxing magic, there wasn't much hope. He leaned his head against Frank's knee and watched the movie through half-closed eyes. At some point he could hear his brother and friends talking but he was too out of it to hear anything but their voice, not really understanding them.

"It's taking all I can to keep him calm. If he were on his own he'd be a fucking wreck."

Mikey sighed. "I don't know what's up with him this year. Normally he's not this bad."

"So what exactly ARE you doing?" Ray's unique voice nearly woke him up until he felt another wave of lazy warmth run down his body.

"Magic to relax him."

"You don't need words or weird ingredients or anything? No 'eye of newt'?"

Frank snorted. "No, not really. My magic's a little different than these dorks'."

"So Mikey was right."

Gerard didn't hear much more, finally drifting off to sleep. He woke up curled on the floor with a blanket over him and a pillow tucked under his head. His neck still hurt when he sat up though. Stretching, he reached for the remote to turn the television off- it was just the opening menu of the DVD they had watched. He finally stole it from Frank's hand, half-way dangling off the couch. Ray was sleeping on the other side of the couch and Frank had somehow fallen asleep on his feet. Mikey was probably the only one who was asleep in a real bed. What a jerk.

At least this gave him time to get the rest of his presents for everyone. After a short stop to find a sharpie and write 'cockslut' on Frank's forehead (because he totally was), Gerard headed upstairs to finish gathering everything.

He didn't know much about Ray other than apparently Mikey had told him everything and the two of them were pretty good friends, and he didn't actually have a gift for him. After a few minutes of searching he fished out an old dragonbone comb he had gotten a few years ago and etched a few symbols for simplicity and untangling. The guy had some crazy hair and hopefully this would help. By the time he had finished with that he could feel that anxiety creeping up on him.

Mikey's main gift was something he'd been working on for a while. It was a special spell to help his glasses stay together and always be scratch-free, as well as be able to adapt to any changes in his eyesight. The guy went through so many pair of glasses it was insane. The paper with the final preparation was practically humming with magic, and he had to wrap it in something to kind of hide and dampen it so that it wouldn't go off on it's own, and also wouldn't set anything on fire. Soon it was added to his pile of gifts, which included some of the books Mikey had wanted, a handheld gps so he could work on taking his teleporting spell further, and a new hair straightener.

The stack of gifts for Frank was kind of small and Gerard just hoped that he wasn't there to open them when Elena was. He was kind of scared of what Mikey had gotten him and his own gifts weren't very PG either. Maybe it would be best to hide these somewhere else... He quickly added a small box that had been hidden in his pajamas, acting like he'd get caught. He scurried away and went back downstairs to the basement just as it was getting light.

Frank was seriously cuddling with Ray's feet now (and no way was he jealous about someone's FEET) and he stole a few pillows from Mikey before lying back down on the floor. He couldn't sleep though. Not when the thought that his grandmother would be there that night, hopefully. Even if it was late. He tossed and turned until he reached up and found Frank's hand. He wedged his arm between some couch cushions to keep it from falling back down and finally felt a little more at peace.

The contact helped him rest, but he couldn't fall back asleep. Not when he was worried about what felt like a million things at once. Mikey had one window near the ceiling of his basement room, and the light finally started to wake everyone up. Gerard pretended to be asleep when Ray sat up and untangled his legs from Frank's deathgrip. He wandered over to the downstairs bathroom and after stubbing his toes and making noise, Mikey woke up too. It didn't take long for Frank to finally groan and sit up, letting go of Gerard's hand.

"Get up, Gee. I know you aren't asleep," he yawned out.

"No."

"Fine. Suit yourself." Frank stepped on him- on purpose!!- as he got up and went about his day.

Eventually it got too loud and bright even in the basement, for him to justify just lying there on the floor. He dragged himself upstairs and checked on the presents. Ray's comb was with Mikey's gifts, and the paper with the spell for his brother's glasses was still sealed up and not on fire. So far so good. Breakfast of a frozen waffle that didn't get quite unfrozen in the toaster and a can of Diet Coke was good enough, and he was feeling more himself by the time his brother teleported Ray home.

"I'm so ready for Christmas to be over."

"Why's that?" Frank was sitting on the counter, watching him.

"I just am," he snapped.

"You don't think she'll be here."

"It doesn't matter what I think." Gerard didn't look at him. He could feel Frank trying to calm him down but it wasn't working. He could feel the magic sort of washing off, not actually getting through to him.

"Gerard..."

He shook his head and went up to his room. Part of him wanted to tell Frank about the call, and that she was supposed to be there that night, but mostly he wanted to slam the door and not be around anyone. He could hear when Mikey came back Rayless and it got quiet after that. He thought maybe Frank went home when he started organizing his potions, trying his best to keep his mind off the inevitable disappointment. It wasn't really working and he nearly broke a bottle of phoenix blood (one of last years Christmas presents) when he was startled by a quiet knock on the door.

"Go away."

"Gee let me in." Mikey tried to turn the doorknob but it was locked. "Let me in or I'll just teleport in there."

"I hate that fuckin' spell..." Gerard got up and opened the door for his brother. "What do you want?"

Mikey pulled his ever-present hat down a little more. After a few awkward seconds he stepped forward and hugged Gerard, surprising him enough that he hugged back.

"You're not the only one who misses her..."

Gerard hugged back tighter and tried not to feel more like an idiot than he already did. He should have known he wasn't the only one looking forward to this, though he hadn't been much more than a self-centered asshole the past week.

"Mikey, I'm sorry-"

"Shut up, stupid." He finally let go, rubbing his fingers under his glasses. "Just. You're not the only person here."

Gerard nodded and wasn't really sure what else to say. He went downstairs with his brother and found that Frank was still there- just being quiet. He had a pile of comic books stolen from his room and was seemingly ignoring the two brothers.

"Put on some shoes and a coat and shit. We're going for a walk." Frank didn't look up from Batman as he spoke to Gerard.

"What?"

"You heard me. Hurry up."

Gerard looked at Mikey but he only shrugged. "I can hold down the fort while you're gone."

It looked like he didn't have much of a choice. Getting outside, even if it was cold and gross (but now snowing for once) would be nice, he guessed. He puttered around as he put on a couple pairs of socks and dug out the sneakers that looked brand new since he never used them, and put on his myriad of scarves, two hoodies and his coat. Only when Frank handed him a pair of fingerless gloves did they leave.

Frank walked by him, close enough for Gerard to feel his warmth even through his coats. He wasn't sure where they were going til he saw a tall fence covered in brown ivy that was dead for the winter.

"I thought we'd stop by my place for a little. You needed out of there." He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and pulled one out. When he lit it, Gerard didn't see any lighter.

"Smoking is bad for you."

Frank raised an eyebrow at him and his eyes flashed black for a split second. Gerard blushed a little and looked down. He missed his long hair that he could hide his face behind. He followed Frank through a gap in the tall iron fencing and they walked through the quiet graves. The snow was high enough to hide all but the tallest gravestones, or the monuments with angels standing over the plots. Gerard's breath matched Frank's smoke as they cleared the snow off a bench and sat down.

"Do you want me around when your grandma shows up?" Frank talked around his cigarette. "She's not gonna kick you out for being with me is she?"

"No... not as long as you don't make it obvious that you're some kind of demon I guess."

"Heh. I think I can keep it a secret."

Gerard gave him a look and Frank only laughed. He wasn't exactly subtle with his magic.

They sat there until it started to snow, and Gerard was starting to get too cold even with Frank there with him. They made it half way home before Gee's whining finally got to Frank and he poofed them back to the warm living room, in front of the fireplace that Mikey had lit for once. Gerard was quick to snatch the cigarette out of Frank's teeth and throw it in the fire.

"What the hell!"

"She won't care about you being here but she WILL care about you smoking in the house."

Frank grumbled as Gerard un-mummified himself from all the cold weather clothes, draping them around the fireplace to dry off from all the melted snow. He dragged some armchairs in front of it, and pulled Frank in to one next to him. Frank stretched out his feet and practically had his toes in the fire.

"How are you-" Gerard was about to ask when the answer was pretty clear. Frank only looked at him again and rolled his eyes. The warmth from the fire reminded him of the feel of Frank's relaxing magic and he tried not to let it lull him to sleep.

"Why do I always get tired around you? This is lame..." He yawned and turned his chair a little so he could cool down a little, and put his feet on Frank's lap.

"I'm an incubus you moron. Sleep is kind of my thing. The fact that you're conditioned to sleep around me only makes my job easier."

He nodded. "Sure..." Frank was stroking the tops of his feet and he was still arm from the fire. He didn't want to go to sleep, but this was better than pacing by the door and waiting for Elena to get there. He was woken up a little bit by a cold breeze of someone opening the door, and suddenly Frank was gone, making his feet thump to the floor.

"Where'd you go you jerk..." He sat up and rubbed his eyes, wishing he had brought a blanket over.

Gerard heard a familiar voice that woke him up right away. "I told you I'd be home today, didn't I?"


	18. Chapter 18

Frank was happy enough sitting in front of the fire, kind of just doing nothing. That's what school breaks were for right? Doing nothing? Waiting for Gee's grandmother to show up eventually. He half expected Bob to show up in the fire and whisper "domestic" with that apathetic, disappointed look on his face and then disappear again. Gerard was asleep again, as usual. If he wasn't able to hang out with him in dreams he would almost be offended, but he let Gee keep his lazy nap dreams to himself.

He was about to get up and try to get Gerard to his bedroom when he froze. He felt an extremely powerful magic close by; stronger than Gerard and his brother combined. Was this Elena? And if it was... why did this magic seem so familiar? Whatever it was he didn't want to be there. He teleported himself up to Gerard's room and made sure the door was firmly shut. It wouldn't really save him from whoever Elena was but it helped him feel better a little.

Downstairs he could hear Mikey and Gerard's voices, and a female voice too. Curiosity got the better of him and he slowly eased out of the door and crept down the stairs. He stopped when he could see a stack of suitcases in tacky flower print in front of the door.

"Gerard you cut your hair! I love it!" He got pulled in to a hug, just out of view. Frank took a step down and could see Gerard in a tight hug with an older lady. Her dark gray hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. Frank was trying to figure out where he knew her from until suddenly she looked up and met his eyes. He stumbled back but she knew he was there- fuck!

The trio made small talk downstairs and Frank bit back a sudden laugh as he realized who Elena was. He and his friends had haunted a townhouse down in New York for a few years and she was the one that had gone down and kicked their asses out. No wonder Gerard was so powerful (and so feisty), and he probably still had a potential for more growth. He snickered at his stupidly worded thought, and then froze again when he heard Elena's voice.

"So you didn't tell me you had a friend staying over."

Gerard blushed and Frank winced. Shit. His cover was blown. Gee didn't even look sorry as he waved down Frank and he stood a little bit behind him. Elena didn't look like much but that lady was full of more fire than hell itself if she got going. Her easy smile was just a sham and he knew better.

"This is Frank. He's my- my friend." Frank rolled his eyes. He wasn't surprised Gerard wimped out. That just gave him an excuse to pinch his butt and watch him try not to flinch. "He goes to school with me," he said, turning back to glare at him. Frank only flashed a bright smile.

"Well it's nice to meet you Frank." Before he could object, she pulled him in to a tight hug. Frank had no choice but to stand there and take it, and pat her awkwardly on the back.

"Nice to meet you, too," he added awkwardly, once she let him go. "I was just going to go-"

"Oh not out in this weather. Besides, it's already late. Go ahead and stay here tonight, and I'll treat you to dinner." She smiled and pat him on the head. SHE pat HIM on the HEAD. What the fuck?! Frank turned to glare at Gerard but he was only hiding a laugh behind his hand. Mikey wasn't even TRYING to hide his laughing. Asshole.

Frank somehow got roped in to helping carry all the fucktons of luggage to Elena's room. It was upstairs, OF COURSE, and across the hall from Gerard's room. He tried to run across and hide in his room but she caught his shirtsleeve and before he knew it he was shoveling snow off the front and back porch. Ugh. How had this happened? He tossed another shovel of snow in to the yard and grumbled. He couldn't even use magic, not without getting his identity revealed. He didn't know how kindly she'd take to finding out her grandson was fucking an incubus up the ass on an almost daily basis.

Once the porches were clean of snow, he thought he'd be able to make it upstairs to Gerard's room but he was wrong again. With just a few words and a typical old lady smile, he was standing over the sink peeling potatoes. He was half way through by the time he even realized what was happening. He stabbed a potato with the peeler a few times when she wasn't looking. This better be worth it. He should have gone when he had the chance.

"So, Frank was it?" He looked over from where she was standing over the stove with an apron on.

"Yeah." He bit his tongue to keep from adding a 'what's it to you' and looked around desperately for Gerard. But from the last he heard, she had sent him and Mikey out to get the runes that still kept the snow tunnels stable in the back yard.

"How are you doing in school?"

"Fine, I guess..." To be totally honest he had no idea. He did the work but didn't really give a shit. They hadn't kicked him out yet so there was that.

"And Gerard?" She wasn't looking at him. He let out a little breath of relief. Jesus it was like he was pinned in place when she stared at him.

"Good. Better than me, probably. And he's probably at the top of his art class." He rinsed off the last potato. "Okay I'm done I'm going to go help them outside." Frank could practically feel the stare on the back of his neck as he grabbed is coat and ran towards the back door.

Gerard and his brother had stopped actually working and were just hanging out eating snacks that Mikey had gotten from his room by the time Frank crawled through the tunnels to find them.

"You asshole! You knew she would do that!" He sat down between them and grabbed a bag of chips. "I'm gonna smell like potato peels for a month."

Mikey only laughed til Frank elbowed him in the side. "What? It was funny! Besides, watching you put up with it and pretending to be clueless is funny as hell."

Gerard had nothing to say, hiding behind a can of Diet Coke. "Jerk."

They hid out in the snow tunnels until Elena's voice echoed through the tunnels calling them in for dinner. Mikey headed out first but Frank grabbed Gerard's sleeve and held him back for a second. "Seriously your grandma is scary. What if she finds out what I am?"

"She won't." Gerard looked worried but obviously not as worried as Frank. "And if she does, I'll tell her the truth."

"And if she banishes my ass back to hell?"

"I'll summon you back myself. Come on. She's not that bad." Gerard started crawling out and he followed.

"Not that bad," he mumbled under his breath. "We'll see how 'not that bad' she is when you find out how she kicked our asses in Amityville..."

\--

Much to Frank's surprise, dinner wasn't actually horrible, or the end of the world. Or a combination of the two. He stuffed his face with the best mashed potatoes he'd ever eaten and when it was clear he was going to dodge questions with simply a yes, no, or maybe, the conversation was left between Elena and her grandkids.

Mikey talked about the teleporting spell he'd been practicing with and that he was getting better at it, and Gerard confessed that he hadn't been able to use the mallet because he didn't know what to use it for exactly. Elena raised an eyebrow and looked at Frank for a moment before letting them continue, seeing as he didn't really bat an eye when it came to them talking about their magic.

He got dragged in to helping clean up after they were done eating, but it was by Gerard this time. Apparently if he didn't help put the leftovers up and load the dishwasher with dishes, there was no hope of sex at all, not even sneaky, impossible to get caught dream sex.

"Whatever, fine." Frank huffed and pouted and clanged around dishes until the kitchen and dining table were cleaned up. He, again, tried to escape up to Gerard's room but was thwarted. Elena had apparently been away from local news for too long and they were going to sit down and watch it while she put some presents under the tree for them.

Without meaning to, once practically an entire suitcase had been emptied under the tree (with Mikey bragging about his little spelled lights), Frank was somehow sitting on the couch between Elena and Gerard. Every time he scooted a little more towards Gee got a look from her, but there was no way in hell he was moving any closer to HER. Of course Gerard was a clueless as ever, ignoring it all. He even had the gall to start getting sleepy after the news and Wheel of Fortune was over, and she started watching some sort of dramatic lawyer show.

They weren't halfway through the trial by the time Gerard had passed the fuck out and was lying across Frank's lap, and Mikey disappeared to his room. Frank found himself blushing after Elena caught him brushing his fingers through Gerard's hair.

"I may not have been home a lot but that doesn't mean I don't know anything about my boys." She raised an eyebrow at him and Frank gulped.

"It's... ah..." Nothing he thought of would explain their close contact at the moment and he was drawing a blank.

"If it weren't already obvious that Gerard was completely smitten with you, then you sure aren't doing anything but digging yourself a deeper hole." She shook her head.

Frank glared down at Gerard's stupid sleeping face-of course it would be HIS fault he would be getting a talking to- until she flicked him on the ear. "Ow!" Before he was able to stop himself, he turned his black-eyed glare to her. As soon as he realized what he did he cursed and turned his eyes back to normal.

"I thought I recognized you from somewhere," she said dryly.

"Are you going to kick me out then?" he asked defiantly. "Banish me?"

She looked down at Gerard, who was still asleep. "No. Not unless you give me a good reason to."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Frank tried to pull away when she pat his head.

"It means that if you've been here for as long as you have and Gerard is in one piece, then I think you'll be all right. For now." She turned so she was looking at him and he couldn't help but gulp and shrink back a little. "If I find out you purposefully hurt him or put him in danger, or use any sort of magic to keep him with you, I'll send you so far down in hell that you'll spend the next century digging your way out. Is that clear?"

Frank only nodded quickly, wondering why that sounded familiar. She may have been less than a quarter of his age but holy shit if he wasn't scared out of his mind. Somehow Elena was able to go from kind grandmother to scary fucking witch and right back without a moments hesitation. She pat him on the head again and sat back on the couch, still watching her show. "I don't even know who half these hooligans are, this is what you get for not being at home for weeks at a time." She shook her head and seemed content ignore them. That didn't stop Frank from skimming in to Gerard's dream to wake him up.

Gee mumbling apologize for falling asleep only got Elena to send him to bed with a hug and a kiss on his forehead. Frank waited til he heard Gerard's door shut before sticking his tongue out at her and teleporting up there himself.


	19. Chapter 19

"You should be Sailor Moon."

"What?" Gerard looked up from hitting ping pong balls with the croquet mallet.

"Sailor Moon. She has her magic makeup thing, and you've got a magic hammer. Same difference right?" Frank was sitting on the bed, kicking his feet since they didn't touch the floor. With two people sharing it now, Gerard had found an extra mattress to use and it made the bed a little too tall for the short demon.

"Hmm..." Gerard pretended to think consider it, but really it would probably be easy. Illusion spells were simple enough and already a talent for him, and with the mallet he could probably pull off a glamor- which was like an illusion but a thousand times more intense. An illusion could make his t-shirt look like a coat but he'd still freeze if he went outside. A glamor doing the same thing would be like it was actually there, at least until the spell was untied.

"Come on, please? For me?" He looked up to find Frank smiling and squinting his eyes shut, practically begging.

"Ugh, fine. Maybe. But no skirts."

Frank pouted and whined until Gerard tapped his shoulder with the handle of the mallet, and ended up accidentally muting him. It took almost an hour to undo the spell and by then the subject had been dropped, or so it seemed.

\--

Gerard sat curled up next to Frank the night before Christmas. They were supposed to be opening just one present, but he was too distracted by Frank leaning in and nipping at his ear, or slipping his hand up the back of his shirt, or pressing a kiss to his neck, all when Mikey or Elena weren't watching. Gerard hardly remembered what he opened by the time Frank was dragging him upstairs to his room and the rest of his family was doing the best to ignore them.

He hardly had time to shut the door before Frank was pushing him towards the bed, holding on to the collar of his shirt and kissing him more fiercely than he had in a while.

"Too many people," he mumbled between bites and kisses.

"Only ONE more person," Gerard countered. He climbed up on the bed and pulled Frank in to his lap after him.

"One person too many." Frank didn't let the argument go any further. He pushed Gerard further on to the bed and down on to his back.

Gerard shuddered and tried to pretend he wasn't as turned on as possible when Frank let his eyes go black. He didn't think he'd ever get used to it.

Frank leaned down close, close enough for Gerard to feel his breath as he whispered in his ear. "How would you like your Christmas present a little early?"

All he could do was nod, feeling another shudder run down his spine as he remembered Frank's voice on that first night, on Halloween. He was kicked out of the memory by a deep kiss, but something about this was different. The hot grip on his shoulders was weakening and the lips pressed against his were trembling.

"Frank- are you okay?" He broke out of the kiss and was startled by how Frank seemed almost... transparent. He could see him, focus on his face, but then he could see THROUGH him.

"Do you want me to do it? Like you asked?" It took Gerard a few seconds to realize what he was asking. Without a hesitation he said, "Yes."

Without warning he pressed his lips to Gerard's again and this time there was something else... When he took a breath he felt like something was pushing down in to his mouth and throat, and started to panic when Frank's weight on him suddenly disappeared.

"Frank?" He choked out the others name, looking around frantically. He pushed himself up on his elbows, looking around the room. "Where did you-" Gerard was cut off when he felt every single muscle in his body tense up. His back arched and he cried out at the sudden pain, gripping at the blankets underneath him. As suddenly as the pain started it was gone, and he collapsed on the bed, panting. No wonder Frank didn't want to possess him... that shit hurt. Everything felt sluggish and weird as he lay there and tried to calm down.

Maybe he had just played a trick on him. Got him him hard and then scared him and poofed away to leave him with blue balls. Ugh.

'But why would I do that?'

Gerard gasped at the sudden voice. He could have sworn he heard Frank whisper in his ear but he didn't see anyone there. When he tried to turn and look he found that he just. Couldn't. He tried to call out his name but his mouth wouldn't work.

"Shhh... don't be scared." The sound of his own voice is what he heard next. It was him but it DEFINITELY wasn't him. Gerard could feel Frank's smug attitude as he sat up, looking around for something. "I forgot what it was like to be tall," he heard himself mumble. He could feel his boyfriend searching through his thoughts until he found what he wanted, and a few seconds later he saw his arm reach out and pick up the mirror he used to talk to Elena. When he looked in the mirror he could see an expression that could only have been Frank's signature smirk, and that his eyes were completely blacked out.

Gerard shivered again, and Frank got one last look before he put the mirror down and headed back to the bed. "Fuck... you never told me how much that turns you on." He flopped back on the blankets and pillows, palming himself through his jeans.

His fingers fumbled with the button and zipper to get them undone. He wouldn't have had a problem (these were his favorite pants and he could practically undo the one handed), but Frank was another issue. Gerard made fun of him mentally until Frank lifted his hips and he was able to wiggle his pants and underwear down. He let out a low moan as his hand wrapped around his dick. He tried to tell himself that it was just jerking off, nothing he hadn't done before, but- this was definitely something else.

Frank closed his eyes and Gerard's thoughts were a mix of images- his own fantasies and memories of Frank, but also some of the same sexed up memories from the others point of view. He heard himself let out another moan and tried to bite it back; how stupid would it be to get caught like this? But then he felt his lips turn up in a smirk again and got a sinking feeling.

"Nnng... Frank..." No. He wouldn't. "F-Fuck..." He knew he was going to come soon and Frank was always... dramatic... with his orgasms. "Frank don't stop!" Gerard could hear an echo of the demon's laughter in the back of his mind. He'd make him pay for this but- later. Frank gave up on his loud moans and sped up his hand, and the only other noise he made was a breathy 'fuck' as he came.

They lay there panting for a few minutes. Gerard almost felt like they had just had sex rather than just a roundabout way of Frank giving him a handjob.

"So there," he heard himself say. "Your early present."

Without any warning he gasped and his body tensed up, though not as tightly as before. He felt Frank's presence leave and after a few seconds a physical body climbed up on the bed next to him. Gerard wiggled out of his pants as Frank snuggled next to him. He looked utterly exhausted when normally he was practically begging to go again right after sex.

"It was a good present," Gee told him, tossing the clothes to the floor and wrapping his arms around the toasty demon. "The best one."

"Hmph. Of course it was."


	20. Chapter 20

The rest of Christmas break went quickly. Gerard got his promised dragon scales, as well as a new sketch pad and inks (all completely non-magical) from Mikey, and a few more lewd presents from Frank that he had to open in private. There was no way he'd open them in front of his family. The days after were kind of lazy, but in a good way. He worked on sketching out the outfit he wanted to make for what Frank was calling his 'Sailor Way' outfit, and tried to not hide himself away in his room with his boyfriend. He knew Elena would have to leave soon again. He didn't know when, but she was never able to stay more than a week or two at a time.

True to his prediction, the day after New Years she woke him up early, leaning over Frank.

"Gerard, the idiots in the Cult of Janus are trying to end the world again. I'll go take care of it, and you take care of Michael and..." She made a wry smile as she glanced down at Frank. "And this one," she ended, deciding to be diplomatic. He nodded and gave her a hug, letting go when Frank whined and pulled him back down.

He had been half asleep when she got there, and he only finally woke up a few hours later to a 'happy new year' early morning blowjob from Frank. At least, that's what he thought Frank was mumbling from around his cock; he couldn't really tell. Only after he sat up, licking his lips, did Gerard remember what had happened earlier.

"What's wrong? Usually you want to treat me right back." Frank sat up on Gerard's thighs, reaching up to put his warm hands on his stomach and chest. He only pouted a little.

"Elena's gone again."

"We'll she'll be back, right?"

"Yeah but she's not here NOW."

Frank leaned down, wiggling against him until he was pressing his nose against the corner of Gerard's jaw. "She'll be back. I wouldn't worry too much. Besides, now that she's gone we can be loud again and make out in the kitchen~"

He couldn't stop a dorky giggle from escaping and Frank nuzzled closer. He was finally getting back to his normal mischievous self after the possession incident, as Gerard had taken to calling it. It had taken a lot out of Frank and sated his curiosity. For now.

"I think I want to try out the thing today."

"Oh! The Sailor Way thing!" Frank got up and rolled off the bed, going through Gerard's piles of sketchbooks until he found the right one. "Here!" He handed it to him, an excited look in his eye that was a little too excited for Gerard's taste. He was either up to something, or way too turned on at the idea of him dressing up. Gerard wasn't sure which option he thought was worse.

"Thanks..." He took the notebook and rolled his eyes when he thought Frank wasn't looking, pushing back his hair a little bit. He still wasn't used to it being so short, though... Frank said he thought it made him look older. So he wasn't going to complain too much about it. "Hand me my marker box while you're down there." He sat up a little and leaned against the wall, putting a pillow behind him. Frank tossed a box up to him and climbed up, settling in to watch him.

There wasn't much to watch, really. He was almost done. Just a few finishing touches. It was kind of lame, he thought. A white button up shirt, and tailored gray vest and thin blue jacket, with tight (not tight enough for Frank) white pants and thin cleats. There was a big black bow on the collar of his shirt, with a skull in the middle. "How will anyone know if you're magical if you don't have a bow?" had been Frank's logic there. And the mallet of course.

"It's awesome." Frank looked up, that smirk edging up on his lips. "You should try it now."

"Now?"

"Right now." He added a belated "Please?" when Gerard just looked at him flatly.

"...Fine." He got out of bed and cleared a spot on the floor to stand on. "Here, hold this up." He handed the notebook to Frank, who sat on the edge of the bed and watched as he got the mallet and stood in place. "Okay..." Gerard took a deep breath and held the croquet mallet in front of him. "I am the master of the wicket." As soon as he felt the surge of energy from the magical instrument, he focused on the drawing and ran through the glamor spell in his mind. Without warning it activated with a flash of light bright enough to make him squeeze his eye shut. He had enough power to cast it without speaking, apparently, and was caught a little off guard.

When the flash of light subsided, he didn't move, didn't even open his eyes. The room was silent. Oh god Frank had left because he fucked it up, or he was naked or something, and he left so he didn't hear him laughing. Dreading what he would see, Gerard peeked out of one eye. Frank was still there. Holding the sketchbook. And... staring. With his mouth open. He opened both eyes and looked down.

"Oh." There was the jacket, and vest, and big-ass bow. And the white pants. White pants maybe were a bad choice-

There was a little flutter of paper as the sketch book was dropped to the floor, and before he could stop him, Gerard was grabbed and pushed up against the nearest flat surface by Frank.

"Fuck... Gee... you're so fucking hot..." He pushed a knee between Gerard's thighs and was rubbing against him, a bulge already apparent through the sweatpants he had worn as pajamas. Frank pulled him down in to a kiss, and it didn't take long for Gerard to toss the mallet to the floor and pull Frank against him.

"I knew- I knew I shouldn't have let you help," Gerard panted between kisses, both of them fighting to bite and pull on each others lips. "How am I supposed to fight crime with you trying to jump me once I put this on?" He pushed Frank away to strip out of the jacket, throwing it to the side and taking the opportunity to turn them around and pin Frank against the wall.

Frank let out a surprised breath. Gerard didn't take the lead very often- if at all- and this was a first. He was a little hesitant at first but didn't back down. Frank's borrowed sweatpants were loose enough for Gerard to easily reach down and grip at his cock. He laughed breathily as he started to stroke him, slowly at first, keeping him pinned against the wall with his other hand. Of course he wasn't wearing underwear. He didn't think he'd EVER seen Frank with them on unless they were stolen from Gerard as pajamas.

"Hurry up and fuck me," Frank growled out, eyes turning black. His hands gripped tightly at Gerard's side, digging his fingernails against his hips.

Gerard nodded and pulled back. He grabbed the oversized sweatshirt by the shoulder and yanked it around, shoving him face first against the wall. He liked this a lot better than he was willing to admit. Frank was pushing his sweatpants down and pressing back against Gerard as he fought the buttons of his glamored pants (they were too tight to just pull down) when the door swung open.

"What happened? There was some magic, and it was really strong, are you guys-" Mikey froze, eyes wide and mid-yawn.

Frank and Gerard stared right back, both of them breathing heavily and one of them half-naked.

"OH GROSS!!" Mikey turned around and slammed the door shut. "GROSS GROSS GROSS!!!" They could hear him shouting as he ran down the stairs and to the basement.

The two of them were still frozen for a moment before Gerard bit his lips together to hide a laugh. He couldn't hold it in and was soon holding on to Frank to keep from falling down on the floor. Frank as laughing too, and when they couldn't hold themselves up any longer they sort of collapsed in to a giggling heap.

"Did you see his face!?" Frank was wiping at his eyes; they were both laughing so hard they were crying.

"'Oh gross!'" Gerard tried to mimic the look he saw on his brother but was laughing too hard to do anything but hold on to Frank and slowly calm down, hiccuping out a laugh every now and then.

They still had goofy grins when Frank grabbed Gerard's hand and pulled it back down to his dick.

"Now where were we?"


	21. Chapter 21

Going back to school was a nightmare for Frank. He went from having free reign over Gerard, to be able to hug, cuddle, have sex with whenever he wanted, to not being able to touch him at all. Ugh he could hardly even look at him. It was HORRIBLE. It took everything he had not to grab him at lunch and pull him in to an empty bathroom. But no. He sat on his hands and just imagined that they would have even more fun after school if he could behave, although Gerard gave him weird looks all day.

Frank was ready to run out of school so they could walk home together, but Gerard turned towards the art room. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I have to pick up some of my stuff from my art final. Go ahead and start walking, I'll meet you on the way." Gerard waved and kept walking the other direction. Frank scowled and stomped off towards the exit. He waited for Gerard at the usual spot, far enough away from the school so that anyone else who walked home wouldn't be following them any more. He kicked some snow in to a chair shape and plopped down. It didn't take much effort to make sure that it didn't melt- or at least didn't get his clothes wet. He knew he wasn't waiting for long, but it felt like FOREVER. When Gerard finally walked around the corner, he threw himself around him and took them straight to his room.

"Frank. Frank!" Gerard had to push him off of him before he fell down. "Calm down! We've got all night, Jesus." He only shook his head and grinned. "At least let me get out of my uniform first."

\--

Once Frank got over the shock of Gerard being off-limits again, things got a little better. It was still a pain to get through the school day, but he got him afterwards. At least... he thought he did. Gerard was busier with school work than Frank wanted to admit, and he was barely passing classes himself. After a few close calls, Gerard finally made a rule that they could only mess around on the weekends.

"So you're kicking me out?" Frank pouted, curling up on Gerard's bed.

"No! No I never said that!" Gerard frowned at him, looking a little sad. "No, I'm not kicking you out. Just... no hands on stuff during the first part of the week. I have to keep up my work and you have to pass so we can go to school next year together. Right?" He climbed on the bed next to Frank, and he wanted to ignore him, but he flopped over in to his lap.

"Fine... But that means you have to make up for it on the weekends."

Gerard leaned down and kissed his forehead, though Frank tried to tilt his head up to meet his lips. "Deal."

\--

As much as Gerard tried to keep his promise, Frank somehow was spending less and less time with him. He had all these ART things to do, things that Frank couldn't help with, or even really know exactly what he was doing. He couldn't even stay after school to help- after that time he almost caught one of the science labs on fire he was banned from being in the school after class unless it was for detention.

Even so, he started to notice that someone else was starting to talk to Gerard that wasn't Mikey or Ray or some boring human. It was... a GIRL. She had blond hair, with pink streaks hidden in it that the nuns didn't see, and she was kind of hot. In a girl way. But she somehow ended up in all of their classes a few weeks before spring break, and she- she even took the good seats close to Gerard! Frank wouldn't have minded, he knew Gerard was his. But it didn't make him feel very good when Gerard didn't walk home with him any more, instead staying after school to hang out with her in the art room.

Finally Frank had enough of it. He left Gerard at his locker, sneaking a pinch to his butt, before acting like he was going to leave. But instead of walking home in the March sunshine, he hid in the bushes. He had a bit of a talent. It wasn't exactly an illusion spell, so it wasn't as hard to cast. Just a little invisibility spell. He wasn't incorporeal though, so he'd have to be careful not to get caught running in to any one.

Sneaking to the art room was easy enough. Most of the halls were empty by that time. He peeked in the window set in the door. There was Gerard, and there was the girl. They were leaning over a table, looking down at something Gerard had drawn or painted. Frank felt a sudden intense feeling of jealousy. Gerard never showed him what he was working on... not until it was finished, and even then sometimes he had to sneak around to get a look at it. What was she doing that he wasn't? It wasn't until he saw her turn away and undo the top buttons to her shirt that he glared. If they could see him his eyes would have been black.

Angry and feeling a little betrayed- and angrier still that he let himself get so jealous over something so... so STUPID, he went back to his place. And not Gerard's home, where he'd spent pretty much every night since the year before. He went back to his lonely shed in the cemetery.

The place was looking a little run down and he felt a little bad. Most of the people there were probably in hell so he thought he should take care of their graves. He changed out of his school uniform and in to something more comfortable. Jeans with holes so far around the knees they'd nearly turned in to cutoff jeans, and an old t-shirt. The old lawn mower was still around the back and he found a can of gasoline. Before he knew it he was mowing the plots of the small cemetery. He didn't really know WHY. It wasn't like he got paid to do it. But it was better than thinking about Gerard and that girl and the way she had leaned down and unbuttoned her shirt-

He growled and pushed the mower faster. He wasn't going to think about it. Frank focused on the work and decided he'd finish this, and just. Go to bed. If Gerard said anything he'd say he was busy. With what, he didn't know, but he was good at lying.

When he got to school the next day, hoping to get to brush Gerard off like he'd been ignored, he found his hopes sorely dashed. Gerard hardly looked at him during their first classes, showing sketches and ideas to the girl and totally ignoring Frank. Lunch rolled around and Frank couldn't take it. He had to get her out of the way, SOMEHOW. He wasn't going to just stand there while she took away his human.

"Gerard." He pulled him aside during lunch, getting tired of missing him after school or not being able to pull him away from the girl.

"Huh? Frankie what do you want?" Gerard looked up, slightly annoyed, from his sketch. He held it to his chest, hiding it from him. Frank clenched his jaw and tried not to glare; he had JUST showed it to the pink-haired girl.

"Can we make a date? To hang out or just be together? Or SOMETHING?" Frank put his hands in his pockets to hide how they were clenched in to fists.

"Oh. Sure, I guess."

"Friday night. I want to walk home from school with you."

Gerard nodded, though he didn't look like it really registered with him. "Yeah yeah, that's fine." He frowned a little. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Frank huffed and turned away. So what if he wanted to spend more time with that stupid human girl? It was no skin off his back.

Friday was only two days away but it felt like forever. Gerard still kept himself busy with the human girl- Katie, Frank finally found out, but not because Gerard ever said anything. He was really really looking forward to time with his stupid human boyfriend, but Friday after lunch, Gerard was gone.

Frank looked through all their classes for him, and even tried to find him with magic but there was nothing. He was gone, and so was Katie.

He didn't bother to walk home. He was so angry that he didn't even make sure no one was looking when he transported himself back to the cemetery.

That weekend was boring as fuck. Gerard didn't try to contact him, he didn't even seem to remember he was there. He refused to go to his house too, even if Mikey and Ray were there. They were cool, but he doubted they'd want him around if he was just going to go between moping over a human and wanting to fuck anything with a pulse.

When Monday finally rolled around Frank was hesitant to actually go back to school. Gerard would still be annoying him, Katie would still be stealing his attention, and he'd be left alone and wishing he never let himself get tangled up with a human. Eventually Frank huffed and put on his uniform. There was no way he'd let himself be turned down by Gerard again.

"Frank? Frankie?" Gerard tried to get his attention during their first class, but he refused to look over. See how the fucker liked it, he thought. When he looked over, Gerard was a little slumped in his seat, frowning down at his paper. A little bit of guilt pricked at Frank's non-existent conscience but he pushed it away.

He didn't give Gerard the chance to talk to him during their other classes either, and he completely avoided him during lunch. He had a bigger target to mess with.  
Frank followed Katie during lunch, to the steps outside. They were shallow, wide steps. Nothing that would really hurt her even if she fell from the top... When she paused to talk to some of her other friends, he concentrated on her stupid dress shoes, tying the laces together. He made sure to double knot them. That would teach her to take his human away, especially when they had fucking plans. Maybe even literally plans to fuck, but there was no way to get that weekend back.

"Frank? What are you doing?"

He jumped when Gerard suddenly appeared besides him. "Huh? I'm not doing anything."

Gerard frowned, looking like he was about to be mad, but it quickly faded. "Frank can we talk? In private?"

"What's changed?" Frank spat back. He crossed arms. "You didn't want to talk this Friday. After you said you'd meet up with me."

"It's about that!" He grabbed Frank's jacket sleeve and pulled him away from the steps, a little towards some bushes that they could hide behind. "I... I wanted to apologize. I've been working really hard on a big project and- and I didn't realize that I'd been kind of ignoring you. And I'm really really sorry about Friday. I had an art show, and-"

"What?" Frank looked shocked. "Your stuff got put in a show? Why didn't you tell me but you let the GIRL go?" He felt even more hurt now. He didn't even get to see it.

"I... I didn't think..." Gerard took a breath to say something more, when there was a screech and a flurry of activity at the steps. Gerard shoved past him to go see what had happened. Katie had fallen, tripping down the steps. Frank hid a little further back in the shadows. Fuck... that had been a bad idea...

Frank hurried inside before Gerard had the chance to come back to talk to him any more. He was busy helping her to her feet. She was walking kind of funny and holding her arm to her chest. Fuck. He managed to make it to the end of the day before Gerard cornered him at his locker. It was almost fifteen minutes after class had ended and he thought he was home clear. Apparently he was wrong.

"Frank." Gerard had a flat look on his face that Frank hadn't seen since he first started messing with him. He was about to try to say something, anything, when Gerard interrupted. "Take us home. Now."

He nodded and put his hand on Gerard's shoulder, making as little contact as he could before teleporting them back to Gerard's room.

"You made her fall, didn't you?"

"What? I didn't make her fall, I just-" Frank's eyes got wide when he saw that Gerard had picked up the croquet mallet.

"You just what?"

Frank gulped and didn't say anything.

"We'll talk when you get back. I am the master of the wicket," he said softly.

"Gerard no!"

There was a flash of light as he swung the mallet and before Frank could stop it or try to get out of the way he was left wheezing on the ground, looking up at familiar red and black clouds.

"...fuck."


	22. Chapter 22

Frank lay on the warm ground for a bit before he sat up. Ugh. How the fuck had he let this happen? He huffed and pouted a little, and felt more than a little guilty. And now he was stuck in hell.

He was content to just sit there and be mad until his chest started to hurt. "Fuck..." He rubbed at the painful itch until his hand started to burn too. "What the-?" He looked down and saw that the crest on his jacket, for the Catholic school uniform, had a cross on it. Frank growled at it and stripped the jacket off, throwing it to the ground a few feet away, glaring at it. After a moment it puffed in to flame.

"Hmph." No loss for him. Stupid school. Stupid human. Why had he even bothered?

"What's up fuckface?" Frank looked up to see Bob standing over him, crossing his arms. "Did you finally show up for roll call?" He held out his hand to help Frank up. 

"No..." He looked away, still glaring at the burning jacket. "I got banished."

"No shit?" Bob didn't laugh, and looked a little surprised. "I thought you had a thing."

"Me too."

"Well let's go see Pete. You might as well check in since you're here."

Frank nodded and followed Bob around their little corner of hell. There wasn't much there. Most of their work took place back on earth, so things here were just places to stay while they recouped or, like in Frank's case, got their asses banished and were stuck there. "My place still free?"

"Fuck yeah. I made sure of it. There were a few idiots who tried to move in but I got rid of them for you."

He nodded again, and was a little relieved when they finally got to their destination. Pete's 'throne' was as macabre as ever, all skulls and rusty iron, built up around what Frank knew was an extremely comfortable recliner. He would know, he'd had sex on it enough times to be extremely familiar with it.

Pete instantly grinned, showing off his sharp teeth. "Frank! It's about fucking time you show up! What the fuck took so long?" He scooted a soft-looking demon off his lap, who curled up in the chair after Pete stepped down. He pulled Frank in to a tight hug. "We've missed you down here."

"Yeah yeah." Frank pulled away, glancing up at whoever was still sitting on the comfy part of the throne. "And it looks like I've missed a lot too. Who's that?"

"What do you mean who's that?" A taller demon appeared from behind the thrown, tossing his hair and making sure it looked good curled around the horns that peeked out of his hair.

Frank glared at him. "Gabe you asshole I've been gone for over six months so fuck off." Ugh. He turned back to Pete. "So? Who is he?"

"I got my hands on an angel," he said smugly. "His name's Patrick." He looked back at the chair and waved, and Patrick waved back.

"Good for you," Frank mumbled. "Whatever. I'm here, I'm checked in, I'm gonna go crash and then figure out how long I'm fucking stuck here." He turned and started walking towards his home with Bob when Gabe called out from behind them.

"What's with the get-up? You got some sorta schoolboy fetish?"

Frank only flipped him off and kept walking.

\--

Gerard sat on the bed, looking down at the messy floor. He had sent Frank back to hell two days ago and he had regret it almost instantly.

Two weeks wouldn't be that long, he told himself. He had already forged notes from Frank's 'parents' saying that he was back in the hospital with another attack of what Gerard had tried to curse him with a few months ago. By the time he was able to come back, it would be just a few days before spring break.

If he wanted to come back at all.

\--

Fuck, what was that noise...? Frank shifted and the noise stopped, though it started again almost right away. It wasn't until a few moments later that he realized he was snoring. He forced his eyes open and snuggled deeper under his blankets. He would never admit it but he missed sleeping with someone else. He relaxed and was almost asleep again when he blinked and peeked out of his nest.

A pair of wide blue eyes were looking right back at him.

"Who."

"I'm Patrick. Pete said you were cool."

Frank closed his eyes again but he had a feeling that he had been assigned babysitting duty. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to wake up. Patrick was sitting on the floor by his bed. He frowned a little, confused. "You're still so... good. I can tell just by looking at you." He poked Patrick on the cheek. "How did Pete even bring you down here?"

"I like him. And since he couldn't say with me I followed him down here." He blushed.

"Wow." Frank shook his head. And he thought he had gone crazy falling for a human. Patrick and Pete were another story all together.

"Oh! Pete told me I could help you figure out how long you're stuck here! Since he said you got banished."

"How are you supposed to help? You're still mostly angel by the looks of it. Do you even know how to check?"

"He said you would show me."

Frank slumped in his covers. He really WAS babysitting. "Alright alright. Let's see..." He got out of bed and reached in to a cabinet for a piece of chalk and his smokes. He lit one with a snap of his fingers and cleared off his mess of clothes and random junk from the center of the room. It had been a while since he'd been banished so it took a little bit of trial and error, and smudging out chalk lines, before he had finished his drawing. It was a circle about two feet wide, filled with symbols and designs that would probably catch fire of he drew them anywhere else other than hell.

He reached into the drawer for his sharpest knife. "Alright, so you draw this, and then you have to have blood from whoever got banished." Patrick got pale and gulped when he saw Frank cut his palm and let it drip down in to the center. It sizzled and sparked. "Okay, so far so good. Then you just need something really magic." He frowned. "Fuck." What was he going to use? Looking in the drawer he thought he might have SOMETHING...

"Here use this." Frank turned to see Patrick pull a white feather out of his pocket.

Frank took it and he felt it kind of make his fingers tingle. "This is an angel feather?"

Patrick nodded. "Yeah. I still have my wings but some of the feathers are coming out. I kept them though, just in case." He looked a little sad that he'd lose his wings, and Frank didn't blame him.

"Thank you," he said, and he meant it. He put the feather down on top of his blood and after a few seconds he watched the chalk shift and move.

"What's that say?" Patrick leaned over the circle.

"You can't read demonscript? It'll come to you eventually." He pointed it out. "Twelve more days."

"That's not too bad. The guy you like must not be too mad if you can come back so soon."

"What!?" Frank glared at Patrick, who only laughed. "Who said anything about-"

"Bob likes talking about you." He grinned a naughty smirk. "He told us all about you and your human and that's why you haven't been here."

Frank stood up and turned to leave. He wasn't going to sit through this damnit. In fact he was going to find Bob and kick his ass.

\--

Mikey sat at the table eating breakfast. Frank had been gone for a week and Gerard was moping as usual. He was getting real tired of this shit. If it kept up he'd just summon Frank back himself.

"If you don't go to school today I'll drag you there in your pajamas."

Gerard groaned and stomped upstairs as Mikey rolled his eyes. He really fell hard for Frank and NOW he was realizing what an idiot he was for not talking it over. No, he HAD to go all out and banish him. Dumb-asses, both of them.

They made it to school, eventually, though Mikey kept checking on Gerard between classes to make sure he was there. One more week and he'd be back with Frank and back to his normal stupid self. The things he did for family.

\--

Frank stood off to the side as Pete tried to show Patrick the ropes. He had a cursed human, someone who made a bargain and couldn't keep their end, and was doing his best to  
get Patrick to do... well anything. The human was tied to a chair and Pete had blood running down side of his mouth as he tried to get Patrick to bite him (after showing him an example).

"Come on, it's not that hard. At least taste the blood, it's better than it looks."

"You two are idiots," Frank grumbled, deciding to get out of there. There was no way he'd admit to being jealous. JEALOUS. Of PETE and his stupid new ex-angel boyfriend. UGH.

"Hey wait! Frank why don't you show him a thing or two?" Pete licked the blood off his lips and waited for an answer.

Frank turned and glared at Pete, and the human tied to the chair. He wanted to say no, but... he hadn't done this in a while and he only had one more day left in hell. So why not? "Fine."

The human looked young. Probably not even 25, Frank thought. He had been doing his best to ignore or forget that Pete and Patrick were there, but Frank stepping forward had him looking scared again. Good.

"So? What's he in for?" He let his eyes go dark, and grabbed the kid's chin to make him look him in the eye. He had dark hair but blue eyes. At least he wouldn't be reminded of Gerard when he did this.

"The usual," Pete let him know, standing to the side with his arm around Patrick's waist. "Made a deal with me for. Something, dude, fuck me if I even remember what it was," he laughed. "I asked him for just ONE murder, couldn't go through with it. It didn't even have to be anyone special."

"Weak." Frank straddled the kids waist and licked at the rough bite marks, grinding against him. He let out a little bit of a moan; there was no reason to hide how much blood turned him on. "You went easy on him if you brought him down here whole."

"Instead of what?" Patrick asked. From the corner of his eye, Frank could see that the new demon was a little more engaged now that he was practically giving him a lap dance.

"Ripping his soul out," Frank whispered. He smirked when he felt the kid tense up under him, and he sunk his teeth in to the soft flesh of his neck. So far he had been nearly silent, but the bite wrung out at tortured moan. "The key is, Patrick," he informed him, pulling back only after leaving a gaping wound that almost looked like an animal bite, "to fuck them up with pleasure and pain. The pleasure dulls the pain..." He reached down and palmed the kid through his torn up and bloodstained jeans and let out a breathy laugh. Of course he was hard. "And then when you take the pleasure away, it makes the pain even worse." He leaned down again and clamped his teeth around his collarbone, and didn't let up until he felt the snap of the bone breaking between his jaws.

Frank wanted to keep going; it had been too long since he had been hands on with the damned. But... In the back of his head he was still thinking about Gerard. His little moans as he made patterns of hickies and much tamer bite marks on the insides of his thighs, his pale skin with just the perfect amount of give, the way he was so naive and everything was new and fun...

He got off the kid and wiped the blood off his mouth. "He's almost dead. You should finish him off while you still can." He turned and walked away and all he could think was "Fuck."

\--

Gerard paced inside his bedroom. It was pretty clean for once. Guilt had given way to nervous energy as he waited for Frank to come back. If he did come back. Would he even want to come back? After how he had treated him? He bit at his nails and winced when he realized he'd bitten them all down to the quick.

Frank would be able to come back in just a matter of minutes. He didn't know how long he'd have to wait after that.

The last bout of energetic cleaning had just ended (which involved going through his potions drawer hidden under his bed and reorganizing it from scratch) when he heard a quiet plink on his window. He peeked out and saw someone standing below the window and throwing tiny rocks. Plink, plink.

Gerard opened the window and looked down. "Frank?" But before he could get a good look at who was out there, they disappeared. His shoulders slumped a little. Maybe Frank WAS angry at him... He shut the window and turned around and walked right in to someone.

"Frank?!" It really was him, looking a little more rough than the last time he'd seen him.

"I'm sorry for what I did to that girl. I was jealous that she was spending more time with you and you showed her your art and you don't show ANYONE that, and- fuck, Gerard, I'm sorry." Frank stood there, determined and a little angry looking. Did he expect Gerard to send him away?

"I'm sorry too. I... I shouldn't pushed you away, or banished you, and I should have realized I was being such a huge douche. About everything."

The two of them stood there quietly for a few seconds.

"So... are we good?" Frank spoke up first.

"Yeah. I think so." Gerard gave him a little bit of a smile, and wasn't prepared in the slightest when Frank jumped through the air and latched on to him.

"Good because now we have two weeks of sex to make up for, NOW."


	23. Chapter 23

Gerard spent almost the entirety of spring break in his room with Frank, making up in pretty much every way possible. Physically and otherwise. They had a lot to talk about, including the girl Frank tripped.

"So she wasn't actually hurt that bad," Gerard finally admitted, sitting on the bed with his back to the wall, watching to gauge Frank's reaction. "I mean, she scrapped her hands up and ended up twisting her ankle, but that's it. She walked around in a boot for a week and was fine."

"Hmph." Frank crossed his arms, looking down his nose at him the best he could, since Gerard was a few inches taller than him.. "And you sent me to hell for two weeks for basically nothing?" It was obvious he was trying to be intimidating, but he had stolen the skeleton pajamas and looked smaller than he normally did.

"Hey I said I was sorry! Besides, it gave me some time to think and I wanted to apologize. Okay?" He poked at Frank's cheek. "I just thought you wouldn't care about my art and then she really did. Or she acted like it. I told her I didn't need her help any more."

"You did?" He turned and nibbled at Gerard's finger.

"Yeah. And I'm supposed to be working on a project for my final... a really big one." It was stressing him out a little and he was supposed to have started around the same time he banished Frank, but any and all work that involved him sitting still and actually working had kind of been thrown out the window. "And I won't keep it a secret, okay?"

Frank hummed around his finger and nodded, seeming satisfied. "Yeah alright. And I won't get jealous when you hang out with people because I know you have a literal sex fiend for a boyfriend and you wouldn't actually do anything with anyone else." Gerard was nodding, looking relieved and happy, when Frank added: "And you're ultra gay so I shouldn't have worried anyway."

"Hey!"

\----

After their spring break together, Gerard found that summer was approaching quickly. He was working so hard but also trying to make sure he spent time with Frank so there wasn't a repeat of the last few months. But everything was actually working out for once... Except for one thing that was driving him crazy.

Frank always seemed to have a smirk on his face and he wasn't sure why. More than the usual teasing smirk, it was all the time, like he had some sort of secret. In fact, Gerard was sure of it. Every time he tried to ask him about it, Frank dodged the issue. Distraction seemed to be his specialty, either getting Gerard all hot and bothered, or making him worried by teasing him about deadlines and finals. Even when Gerard knew what he was doing it still seemed to work, which made it even worse.

"WHY are you even bringing up finals? I'm freaking out, I can't find my memory potion and you STILL haven't changed my roots back to black!" He glared at the giggling Frank, pointing at his scalp that was growing out roots of washed out blue instead of his usual black.

"It's not MY fault you got distracted while putting in that stupid dye spell. Besides, it's a curse. It'll have to work it's way out."

"I hate you..."

"Hey if it makes you feel any better it was probably Mikey that stole the potion." He poked Gerard's cheeks and tried to change the subject yet again.

So instead of trying to pin him down with words, Gerard gave up a week later and used force.

"Okay okay!!" Frank was face down in the backyard, with Gerard sitting cross legged on his back. "I'll tell you!"

"Good!" He tapped Frank's hands with the handle of the mallet, and they came unstuck from their invisible bonds to the ground. "And I mean it, you better tell me."

"Well I'm not gonna ruin the surprise... but. It's tickets. Important ones; I've been working on this since I got back from being banished. Which still wasn't cool."

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Tickets to what?"

"I already said I'm not gonna ruin it!" Frank rolled his eyes. "It's a surprise. After finals, I PROMISE I'll tell you. Right after the last one, okay?" He wiggled. "Now let me up I think a grasshopper crawled down my pants."

\----

Waiting for finals felt like an eternity for Gerard, even though he knew it was just a week. At least Frank was studying almost as hard as he was- after a few remarks about how bad his rep would go down if a DEMON got held back in a CATHOLIC school, he was taking their tests a little more seriously. That didn't stop Gerard from getting more and more curious (and maybe a little anxious) during their last day of school, knowing that after the last test of the day Frank was going to have some big huge surprise that he'd been working on for months. Even as the teacher was passing out the tests, he had on that smirk, and Gerard finally had to look away as he started on his own test.

The hour and a half couldn't pass any slower. When the last person finally turned in their test and they were all let out, Frank grabbed Gerard from behind and suddenly they were in his room. There was an open suitcase on his bed, and it was already half full with some of Frank's clothes.

"What? What's going on?" Gerard peeked inside. "Are you going somewhere?"

"More like WE'RE going somewhere." He pulled out an envelope from his jacket and handed it to Gerard.

Even more curious, Gerard opened it and found sets of airplane tickets. From the nearest airport, with a layover in Chicago and then... "Germany?" He looked at Frank, not sure if he should believe all this.

"Yeah! Germany, and Italy and France. And other places too! Do you know how many cool cemeteries there are in Europe?" He paused, waiting for Gerard to answer, and kept talking when he didn't reply right away. "Well there's a shit-ton, and it's awesome, and we're going on a trip, and we're going to fuck in a mausoleum." His eyes turned black and Gerard swallowed a little roughly.

"So... when do we leave?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT IS OFFICIALLY //OVER//
> 
> that doesn't mean I'm done! I had some great help for the first part in editing and I'm about to go back and make all those changes, as well as edit everything in to one chapter instead of in to separate ones. So! Keep an eye on that, since the story will improve and all that. 
> 
> ALSO: guess what?
> 
> ...there's gonna be a sequel.
> 
> STAY TUNED


End file.
